“The Place Beyond the Pines” is an interesting title. It is the literal meaning of Schenectady, a town in New York where this film both takes place and is filmed.

The title is also mysterious enough on its own to potentially gain viewers by itself. Every time there is a bad movie title, I tend to harp on it, so I felt it was my duty to point out the excellent ones as well. 

What would you do to support the ones you love? More importantly, what if you just found out you had loved ones who needed support?

Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a motorcycle rider for a traveling fair, the guy who gets into the tiny steel ball and rides around. It is a lonely life, always traveling, but he can sometimes find love in the random towns that he stays at. Like Romina (Eva Mendes), whom he had a nice time with last year, but now lives with a man (Mahershala Ali) and has a son. Well, Luke’s son, it turns out.

Luke doesn’t know how to handle this situation, but he doesn’t want to be a scumbag father, like his own, so he quits his job and settles in Schenectady. He finds a job as an auto mechanic with Robin (Ben Mendelsohn), but it still isn’t enough. He needs a large sum, and he needs it now. So why not rob a bank? Whom does that really hurt?

This film also tells of Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a law school student turned cop, who doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his own father (Harris Yulin), a member of the state supreme court. Even the small towns may have local corruption, and that corruption may cause conflict in his household with his wife (Rose Byrne) and other cops (Ray Liotta).

“Pines” also features Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan, but I don’t want to tell the specifics of their parts. 

The “sins of your father” theme is a popular one for shows, movies and novels, yet I always feel like it never really resonates with me and always falls flat. “The Place Beyond the Pines” might have the best showcasing of this theme I have ever witnessed, making me truly understand the full extent of what it means, and how it can be conveyed.

The movie is split up pretty nicely into three parts, with the end of part one coming out of left field. It was well acted up to that point. It still missed a major oomph to get my full attention, but it was sure to bring it. After that, I was hooked and couldn’t look away from the screen, wondering what other secrets and twists it had in store for me.

Everything about this movie felt amazing to me, especially the acting. Eva Mendes is basically the only woman character in this movie. Lately, she seems to be put in movies more often for her looks than her talents, but she definitely delivers in this film.

I have talked to about five people about this movie, and at least from the “guy perspective” everyone loved it. The one woman I talked to thought it was decent, but not the best. The themes presented may be easier to latch onto for men, since it falls so heavily into the son/father relationship category. However, despite that, I think this movie can be enjoyed by everyone.

It might just be the best drama I have seen so far in 2013. This, with “Silver Linings Playbook” has elevated Bradley Cooper into an elite acting category, and it will take more than a new “Hangover” to knock him down from it.

5/5