If you see one movie this weekend, let it be Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines.
Reuniting with Ryan Gosling following the Oscar-nominated Blue Valentine, Cianfrance returns behind the camera for another film about families, this time with a focus on fathers and sons.
Gosling stars opposite Bradley Cooper in the lead, with both giving exceptional performances – two of the finest you’ll see this year. With the film continuing to expand its release across the US, The Place Beyond the Pines will finally be arriving in the UK this Friday. And ahead of its debut on our shores, StudioCanal have released part of the opening scene, to give you a little taste of what to expect.
In recent memory, there are but a handful of films that truly stand out with exceptional opening scenes. The Dark Knight is of course one of them. Inglourious Basterds is another. And The Place Beyond the Pines will soon be recognised in the same light, as evidenced by the preview we see in the video below.
Luke (Gosling) is a professional motorcycle rider who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son, but when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer (Cooper) their violent confrontation spirals into a tense generational feud. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES is a rich dramatic thriller that traces the intersecting lives of fathers and sons, cops and robbers, heroes and villain.
Gosling and Cooper are joined by a brilliant ensemble, led by Dane DeHaan, Ben Mendelsohn, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne, Bruce Greenwood, Mahersala Ali, and Emory Cohen.
Cianfrance is once more directing from his own script, with past collaborators Jamie Patricof, Alex Orlovsky, and Lynette Howell (Blue Valentine) producing alongside Sidney Kimmel (Moneyball, Lars and the Real Girl).
The Place Beyond the Pines is currently expanding on its limited release across the US. Here in the UK, it will be released in cinemas this Friday, 12th April. If you’re heading out to see a film this weekend, or in the weeks to come, I cannot recommend this enough. It is one of the finest films you’ll see this year.
[yframe url=’www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFguF3gf-vU’]
