By Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

What triggers a producer to pick a script amongst heaps of screenplays? This question remains unanswered after viewing ‘The Place Beyond The Pines,’ a movie that makes no sense from start to finish and if it weren’t for Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, no-one would bother considering it.

The plot is divided in the traditional three acts, that end up being a triad of gawky chunks. In the first a mysterious and mythical stunt-rider, Luke (Ryan Gosling), whizzes through the backstreets of Schenectady, New York, desperately trying to connect with a former lover, Romina, (Eva Mendes) who recently and secretly gave birth to his son, Jason. In an attempt to provide for his new family, Luke commits a series of bank robberies aided by his outstanding riding ability. In the second act the stakes rise as Luke is put on a collision course with an ambitious police officer, Avery Cross, (Bradley Cooper) looking to quickly move up the ranks in a police department riddled with corruption. The last and final act unfolds over fifteen years as the sins of the past haunt the present days lives of two high school boys wrestling with the legacy they've inherited.

The entire cast members deliver an excellent performance despite they have to enact their character fifteen years later without a grey hair or wrinkle. But actors not only have to cope with the inefficiency of make-up artists, they also have to tackle with the creation of cliched characters who either over-react by savagely punching legitimate love rivals or have the liberty of firing a gun without the neighbours even wondering whether to call 911 or not.

Derek Cianfrance had fascinated audiences in 2010 with ‘Blue Valentine,’ starting his collaboration with Ryan Gosling. The film that currently reunites them, is drenched with characters portrayed in a stereotypical way through clumsy allegories. Ryan Gosling is a rider, hence he has to be covered in tattoos and must wear crummy inside-out T-shirts with holes. He is a lost soul and his fate is doomed, since he chooses the path of robbery. But the story wants to accuse the entire system, therefore also the police-department isn’t exempt from the justicialist twist the story takes. Bradley Cooper is a cop that makes a mistake and wants to set it right by opening Pandora’s Box and setting free all the filth that come from bullies wearing a uniform. Avery Cross’ call is to set things straight, since he’s the son of a judge, he passed the bar exam as lawyer but preferred to settle for the action scene as policeman; although it is rather improbable in reality for the son of a magistrate to give up the opportunity of following in his father’s footsteps to become a cop.

Also the symmetrical family situations of the two lead characters force credibility: both men have a son of the same age, they split from their lady partners (for different reasons) and have a mother-in-law living with their child. But what embraces the destinies of fathers and sons is the Mohawk word for the setting of the crime-drama, “Schenectady,” that stands for “place beyond the pine plains.” In the course of 140 minutes we see the piny road an infinite number of times, to underline the allegory for the moral turpitude that has shaken the American dream.

The film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival had an extraordinary critical acclaim for the powerful exploration of the unbreakable bond between fathers and sons. There’s an old italian proverb that says that all the faults of fathers always fall on their children. But not all movies that attempt to portray the legacy of sins that are passed down through the generations, turn out as ‘The Godfather.’

‘The Place Beyond The Pines’ beholds to basic romantic notions of masculinity, fatherhood, and sin to the level of Greek tragedy, as Ed Gonzalez from Slant Magazine pointed out, the movie is a dazzling con that crumbles fast and hard, beneath the weight of its ridiculously relentless sense of self-importance.

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