Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines

I'm SO excited for this film. Very few films have matched my anticipation for this. Going on Friday to check it out.
 
Seeing this in an hour or so. Very excited. Both as I loved Blue Valentine and by everything I've seen/heard from this.
 
On the verge of as fantastic as Blue Valentine. In other words; really, really great.

Cianfrance is a master at building intensity without overdoing it. The acting and editing is very natural and the music is never too obvious, nothing tries to force the intensity and emotions on you.

Instead it's done with slow build-up, nicely timed silence and lots of subtly expressive faces in close-ups. Overall really nice cinematography, a great mix of dynamic handheld stuff and more carefully framed compositions. Together with the strong narrative it makes for a lot of evocative images.

It's a tale in three very clearly defined acts, it's very nicely woven as you go from one act to another and it never feels like a complete restart as it always connects back in nice ways. The structure and length gives it quite an epic feel, for such and intimate movie.

Great casting in this too and many great actors (Gosling, Dehaan, Mendelson, Liotta etc) gets to shine. Bradley Cooper surprised me with his greatness in Silver Linings Playbook, and he is even better here. A fantastic performance, the best in a movie full of them.

9/10
 
This is honestly the best film I've seen in several years. I saw it yesterday and again today and it was incredible both times.

Unlike any movie I've ever seen. Simply spellbinding from first frame to last.
 
747 said:
On the verge of as fantastic as Blue Valentine. In other words; really, really great.

Cianfrance is a master at building intensity without overdoing it. The acting and editing is very natural and the music is never too obvious, nothing tries to force the intensity and emotions on you.

Instead it's done with slow build-up, nicely timed silence and lots of subtly expressive faces in close-ups. Overall really nice cinematography, a great mix of dynamic handheld stuff and more carefully framed compositions. Together with the strong narrative it makes for a lot of evocative images.

It's a tale in three very clearly defined acts, it's very nicely woven as you go from one act to another and it never feels like a complete restart as it always connects back in nice ways. The structure and length gives it quite an epic feel, for such and intimate movie.

Great casting in this too and many great actors (Gosling, Dehaan, Mendelson, Liotta etc) gets to shine. Bradley Cooper surprised me with his greatness in Silver Linings Playbook, and he is even better here. A fantastic performance, the best in a movie full of them.

9/10
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Its crazy, but you are right...I thought Cooper was better in this film then Silver Linings Playbook. And I loved that movie too
 
This is finally opening in St. Louis this Friday, as is Trance! Needless to say I shall be laying down some cash next weekend.
 
I think this movie is gonna take people for a loop, and a lot aren't gonna be happy with that.

The 2nd time I saw it there were four separate walk-outs. Most of them were
a few minutes after the act breaks. One guy walked out seconds after the 15 years later title.

Shame, really.
 
from what I'm hearing about the quality of this film, I'm curious why they waited till a month after award season has ended to release it. The film has been release ready for quite some time.
 
Marvin said:
from what I'm hearing about the quality of this film, I'm curious why they waited till a month after award season has ended to release it. The film has been release ready for quite some time.
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The release date was my first indication that they didn't think it would create a dent come awards time especially since it was ready enough to be released during the awards season if they wanted to.

I liked the movie especially the acting but I can see it being polarizing.
 
Brain Damage said:
I think this movie is gonna take people for a loop, and a lot aren't gonna be happy with that.

The 2nd time I saw it there were four separate walk-outs. Most of them were
a few minutes after the act breaks. One guy walked out seconds after the 15 years later title.

Shame, really.
Click to expand...

Maybe they went to take a piss? its a long movie...The acts were pretty damn nice the way they set them up. Unless people didnt like how things were unraveling.
 
kvz5 said:
The release date was my first indication that they didn't think it would create a dent come awards time especially since it was ready enough to be released during the awards season if they wanted to.

I liked the movie especially the acting but I can see it being polarizing.
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"The Place Beyond the Pines" is the second limited opening of the month to open better than expected, and among the strongest ever early-year launches. Focus Features, coming off the disappointment of the wider release of "Admission" last week, maximized its starry cast and strong marketing to make a major initial impact.

Two European films with positive festival reaction ("Renoir" and "Blancanieves") also opened at lower levels. though the former did strong business at its two prime theaters. More disappointing was the second week of Weinstein's "The Sapphires" which doesn't seem to be headed towards any sort of breakout.

Opening

"The Place Beyond the Pines" (Focus) - Metacritic score: 63; Festivals include: Toronto 2012

$270,000 in 4 theaters; PSA (per screen average): $67,500

Marking the best total gross for a limited release this year and the second best PSA (after the unlikely initial weekend success of "Spring Breakers" in one less theater), "The Place Beyond the Pines" is a return to form for usually successfully Focus Features. It could be, depending on final figures, the biggest ever limited opening in the first quarter.

Several factors set the movie apart from most high-end openings. Acquired by Focus at Toronto last September, the "Place Beyond the Pines" release is outside of the usual awards-season calendar. It didn't get a boost from a recent festival premiere ("Moonrise Kingdom" opened post-Cannes to nearly double this gross). The reviews were respectful but at the low end of favorable, with many critics giving it more credit for aspiration than accomplishment. That would have suggested a more ordinary opening, despite top-line theater placement (which many films from companies like Focus get throughout the year).

So why this level of success? The movie boasted two stars: Bradley Cooper, coming off of "Silver Linings Playbook," and Ryan Gosling, who has built a strong reputation for quality work and smart film choices. This likely led to more interest from younger audiences in New York and Los Angeles, along with an edgier than usual plot (more in line with the tougher dramas getting attention on cable these days) than standard specialized fare. Throw in Focus' marketing expertise when they have something strong to sell and the result is a surprise hit, at least so far.

This is director Derek Cianfrance's second limited opening success with Gosling. His first film, "Blue Valentine," was released post-Christmas for awards attention, grossing $294,000 also in four theaters on its way to a $9.7 million gross and a best actress nomination for Gosling's co-star Michelle Williams.

What comes next: Expansion to several other cities next Friday and a gradual rollout is planned. Whether this heavy and lengthy (140 minute) film will get the audience response to make it a wide success along the lines of "Moonrise" isn't clear yet, but this opening should encourage Focus to give it every chance to go far beyond what "Blue Valentine" did.
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http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompson...he-place-beyond-the-pines-a-triumph-for-focus

Probably has to do with marketing from Focus and people didnt anticipate the surge in young audiences coming out to see Gosling/Cooper...I mean they both had stellar year in 2012
 
It's doing gangbusters but one thing I'm noticing is how quite a few movies (namely Spring Breakers lately, for example), do great in limited release with huge PSA, and once they're wide, they fade away fast.

If it goes wide, I doubt it goes much further than 10-15 million (which will still make it break even).
 
Yep, doing great in limited release often means nothing once a film goes wide. The Master and Spring Breakers did great in limited release and only did okay (the budget made The Master and failure and Spring Breakers is a success) once they went wide. Maybe Pines will do better, who knows?
 
Poeman said:
Maybe they went to take a piss? its a long movie...The acts were pretty damn nice the way they set them up. Unless people didnt like how things were unraveling.
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I didn't notice any of them come back, but maybe.

No, seriously. Major spoilers.
I think some people just can't get behind a movie where the main character dies 45 minutes in and a whole new character's story begins.

I was taken aback at first too, but Avery's story very quickly became just as compelling as Luke's. Same with Justin and AJ.
 
Brain Damage said:
I didn't notice any of them come back, but maybe.

No, seriously. Major spoilers.
I think some people just can't get behind a movie where the main character dies 45 minutes in and a whole new character's story begins.

I was taken aback at first too, but Avery's story very quickly became just as compelling as Luke's. Same with Justin and AJ.
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That's the thing though...

Gosling is not really the main character (or at least IMO he wasn't) but the problem was he was marketed as the lead (because he's Gosling!) so people were surprised/disappointed when they find out that he's barely in it.
 
About people walking out from this movie. Well first of all it's their loss. And secondly they have only themselves to blame for not looking up the movie enough beforehand. Cause if they did, what did they expect out of a almost 2 and a half hour heavy drama from Cianfrance? And the movie is not THAT difficult, neither is it offensive in any way.

I'm not saying it's for everyone or that people can't dislike it, but if you're walking out on a movie then it must be pretty unbearable. Then again maybe it is like some of you say that the people walking out were just disappointed
that Gosling's character was killed of early, cause they went only for Gosling
. Still think it's weird though.

Maybe it's because walking out of a movie seems so far off from me as a film geek. Not only because I often know what kind of movie I'm seeing, something I think I will like, but also mostly because I'm able to embrace all kinds of movies no matter genre or style.

Though I also get and respect that not everyone is that way. I have friends who thinks every movie without any action or lots of comedy is boring for example. And also other friends on the other side of the spectrum who doesn't like anything with too much action. And other friends who doesn't like almost anything supernatural or out there.
 
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a lot of audiences just dont like slow paced movies especially something as long as 2 hours and 30 minutes
 
Went and saw this last night. I'm still kind of digesting it, but overall thought it was great. I didn't mind the run time or slow pace but I do feel that some things parts in the middle were unnecessary.

While I didn't mind, I was totally shocked that Golsing died so early. Then the movie just completely shifts into what almost feels like a whole other movie with Cooper and the police corruption stuff. Was the corruption stuff really necessary? I feel like they could have made the 15 year jump after Cooper's psychiatrist visit where he mentions having a hard time looking at his kid, and it wouldn't have affected the third act much. And while I didn't much care for Cooper and the corruption part, I did really enjoy the stuff with AJ and Jason at the end. That part of the story kind of redeemed the boring middle part for me.
Anyone else feel this way?
 
Well, that's the point, the movie is
in three parts, of course the corruption stuff is necessary, it shows you who Avery is as a character, and it's also vital to show the difference between the son and the father. Jason (Luke's kid) turns out okay, considering (before the ending of course), and Avery's son is a total *****ebag, that actually perverts Jason in some way, whereas Avery is a total stand-up guy
 
Yeah, I suppose you're right about
how the second half shows us who Avery is and helps establish the difference between him and his son. Like I said, I'm still digesting the movie and I think part of why I didn't enjoy the middle was because I really didn't expect it to become that kind of movie. Not that it's a bad thing, just kind of took me out of the story for a little while.

I thought Dane DeHaan did a great job. He was pretty good in Chronicle and after this I'm really looking forward to him as Harry Osborn in ASM2.
 
Saw it a couple of hours ago. I thought it was great. Great acting, storytelling, great everything. Gosling is just one of those actors that you just can't take your eyes off of and Cooper is damn good in this.

9/10
 
One of the best films I've ever seen. You can't help but think about the decisions you've made in your life and the consequences of those decisions when watching this movie. Incredible experience.

I have never seen a film like this before.
 
I loved the middle part too, Liotta as corrupt cop was great.
 
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