The Place Beyond the Pines

"The Place Beyond the Pines" is split into two halves. Ryan Gosling who plays Luke is the protagonist first followed by Bradley Cooper who plays Avery in the second act.

Luke is a troubled man who wants to support a son he didn't know he had by robbing banks and he is eventually caught by police officer Avery who ends up killing him. The approach of the film is highly original and inventive.

There are the usual themes here regarding fatherhood, manhood, justice, guilt and honesty and how life presents us with challenges which haunt us later depending on how we deal with them.

There are no clear heroes here but more people who are doing the best they can under difficult circumstances. In life, who we think we can trust isn't always obvious and sometimes doing the right thing doesn't bring the reward we expect.

Recommended.