The Place Between the Pines is the translation for the Mohawk word for Schenectady (New York), where the film takes place. The film tells three separate but related stories, each dealing with the responsibility fathers have toward their sons. The film is divided into three distinct stories: the crook, the cop, the sons.
Ryan Gosling plays Luke Glanton, a carnival motorcycle stuntman, obsessed with his motorcycle. When he learns that he is the father of Jason, a baby he didn't know he had, his world changes. His sense of rage at the world that has created him is hinted at by the tattoo knife/tear at his eye. His scenes with his baby's mother, Robin (Eva Mendes), are superbly written and acted. Unable to find the money he needs to woo Robin away from the man she currently lives with, Luke eventually is convinced that bank robbing will provide him all he needs. Things do not go well.
Bradley Cooper as Avery Cross, at the top of his acting game, plays a rookie cop confronting life and death for the first time. In his story, he confronts the corruption of the police department around him while feeling responsible for Jason, who is the same age as his son. AJ The acting is outstanding. The script plays with the parallels between the two men's failures at relationships with family and women.
The third story jumps fifteen years and deals with Jason and AJ beginning a tenuous friendship fraught with violence and drugs. There are subtle ironies in the lives of these young men and the fathers who have tried to help raise them.
While the film was beautifully filmed and compellingly acted, Oblivion proved a more satisfying experience for me. Both had high adrenaline scenes but I didn't find myself fully vested in the characters.
The Place Between the Pines (2013) ****
Ryan Gosling plays Luke Glanton, a carnival motorcycle stuntman, obsessed with his motorcycle. When he learns that he is the father of Jason, a baby he didn't know he had, his world changes. His sense of rage at the world that has created him is hinted at by the tattoo knife/tear at his eye. His scenes with his baby's mother, Robin (Eva Mendes), are superbly written and acted. Unable to find the money he needs to woo Robin away from the man she currently lives with, Luke eventually is convinced that bank robbing will provide him all he needs. Things do not go well.
Bradley Cooper as Avery Cross, at the top of his acting game, plays a rookie cop confronting life and death for the first time. In his story, he confronts the corruption of the police department around him while feeling responsible for Jason, who is the same age as his son. AJ The acting is outstanding. The script plays with the parallels between the two men's failures at relationships with family and women.
The third story jumps fifteen years and deals with Jason and AJ beginning a tenuous friendship fraught with violence and drugs. There are subtle ironies in the lives of these young men and the fathers who have tried to help raise them.
While the film was beautifully filmed and compellingly acted, Oblivion proved a more satisfying experience for me. Both had high adrenaline scenes but I didn't find myself fully vested in the characters.
The Place Between the Pines (2013) ****
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