The Place Beyond the Pines

AroView: Ryan Gosling re-teams with the dir. of BLUE VALENTINE for this equally arresting crime saga that unfolds after a motorcycling drifter’s dalliance into the dangerous world of heists in an effort to support his newly discovered infant son.

Containing a few narrative surprises, this best showcases the writer-director’s gift for extending scenes for dramatic nuance and he excels at giving his actors plenty to work with and explore, giving the characters a gratifying depth in a relatively short space of screen time. While the ambitious structure’s reach may ultimately exceed its grasp, it remains a bold, sincere and intriguingly ambiguous crime film, with an over-arching theme of fatherhood and legacy.

“Carefully observed and consistently compelling, it feels like an instant American classic.” ~TIME OUT