The Place Beyond the Pines 4K 2012

The film, which the British Daily Telegraph called the film of the year, turned out to be two hours of boredom in front of the cinema screen. I don't know what merits the film was predicted to be so successful for, maybe I'm missing something? As far as I'm concerned, this story lacks any logic and emotion at the same time, and the attempt to make a crime drama resulted in Sienfrans failing to make either a decent drama or a crime film. I read the reviews: most of them unanimously praise the “brilliant script” and “wonderful acting,” “deep drama,” “subtle psychology,” etc. But the thing is, none of that is there! The brilliant script, in my opinion, turns out to be a poorly constructed plot consisting of three different parts that have little in common. Emotionally, I mean. Excellent acting—that's definitely not there. Gosling can definitely do better; it seems like he's just gotten tired of this type of role and is playing it on autopilot. And it's boring. I can't say anything about Eva Mendes; in my opinion, she was nothing special before, and she's still nothing special now. She's just gotten older, and it hasn't done her any favors. Only Bradley Cooper played relatively well, and even then, that impression is more likely due to the surprise of such a role for him. After all the Bachelor parties, it's nice to see him in a role where he experiences more than two emotions throughout the film. Overall, with this kind of plot, all hope must be pinned on the cast, who could have carried the film, but alas, that didn't happen.

The film is praised for not being a blockbuster and for its measured narrative, which sets it apart from contemporary mainstream cinema. But while you can somehow adjust to this unhurried pace for the first hour, after that you just want to sleep. The characters savor meaningless dialogue in order to make it seem “realistic,” as I understand it. And yet it goes on too long. In the end, halfway through the film, you manage to go through all the possible endings, calm down and start falling asleep with a clear conscience.

“An unexpected denouement that happens so quickly that you don't have time to realize it” won me over with its idiocy. What, ultimately, does this film promote? What is its main idea? That somewhere there was a guy who didn't have a penny to his name, but suddenly decided to become a super-responsible father when he found out he had a son? And, apparently, under the burden of this super-responsibility, he went to rob banks. All the while saying that he doesn't want his son to grow up to be as worthless as his father. Logic, huh?! Doesn't this smack of “failure of the year”?

I would also like to mention the 12+ rating. I don't know what the guys from the Ministry of Culture were thinking. Grown men without a penny to their name rob banks, 17-year-old teenagers have sex, smoke weed, and easily get hold of weapons to go and avenge their father. Okay. I was particularly amused by the comment of a 15-year-old guy: leaving the theater after the screening, he said, “Hey, I would do the same.”