The Place Beyond the Pines

Die Stimmung ähnelt Eastwoods Mystic River, gemischt mit Afflecks The Town - Stadt ohne Gnade. Der Film ist aber langsamer, ausgedehnter, er widmet sich mehr den Figuren und hat mehr Gedankenschichten. Ein starker Film über Menschen, Taten und Folgen, Verantwortung, Schuld und Vergebung. Das Engagement des Publikums in der Geschichte vertieft sich jede zehn Minuten. Musikalisch unkonventionell, manchmal sogar hypnotisch – leise Choräle in dem letzten Viertel des Films verleihen ihm im Kontext zu der sich steigernden Beziehungskollision eine schicksalhafte Tiefe, welche Terrence Malick in seinen letzten Filmen durch Choräle nur vortäuscht. Ich habe mich auf Gosling gefreut, aber Cooper hat ihm die Show gestohlen. Er zeigt hier seine bisher beste Schauspielleistung mit einem Kammercharakter. Es überrascht mich, dass der Produzent Sidney Kimmel bei der Academy kein größeres Lobbying betrieben hat, weil das ein unabhängiger US-amerikanischer Film mit einer Leone-Dimension ist. (07.04.2014)

I have with this movie the same problem I had with Cianfrance’s previous one, Blue Valentine. Once again, the director-screenwriter attempts to present a broad indie social drama, but he’s unable to convincingly deliver and defend any of the conflicts that make the basis of the plot. As a result, the whole thing feels like disingenuous and manipulative stuff that wants to look important, and that’s all there is to it. In the first act it still works somehow, thanks mainly to Gosling’s charisma. Things start to grind in the second act, and the last act is, well, almost ridiculous. I’m very disappointed, I was really looking forward to it, but it seems that with Derek we don’t see eye-to-eye. 5/10 (10.05.2013)

An Iñárritu-esque movie in the form of a Kinder Surprise; it also offers three (un)similar things in one package. Tremendously powerful in many aspects; from the details like "wearing shabby t-shirts inside out" to building a dense atmosphere. What spoils the enthusiasm somewhat is the third act, which is not bad in itself, but still crouches deep in the shadow of the opening two acts. It is schematic, predictable, and somewhat didactic. Which, since it is meant to close the circle, is a little unfortunate. Quite a little bit. (17.03.2013)

With such a duo in the lead roles, it couldn't have turned out any other way. Bradley Cooper steals every scene with his brilliant performance without hesitation, and Ryan Gosling only needs one look for the motorcycles in the film to be different than before. These pine trees at first seem like a proper probe into souls on opposite sides of the barricade, like an excellent dramatic arc that I will be talking about for some time. But behind that stone in the stomach that dragged me down for over two hours, there is simply something more. And when the viewer lets a few pivotal moments pass before their eyes and connects them back into a single whole, it will shake you up at least one more time. (19.03.2013)

A powerful drama assembled from three interconnected lives. A raw, realistic story and precise directing highlighted by great acting. The movie loses its oomph a little when Ryan Gosling disappears from in front of the camera, but it still has a lot to say. The fourth star is for the great cross-country chases in the first third. (01.01.2014)

Just as raw and formally austere as the last Eastwood films (Gran Torino, Mystic River), or Haggis's Crash. Here, in addition, with a script and concept of certain scenes (mise-en-scène, lighting, editing, music) that are at a higher level than the examples mentioned above (similar to Fincher's Seven or Zodiac), with a fantastic atmosphere and above all a brilliant script that has no equal within the genre. Dense, suspenseful, completely unpredictable, without a single misstep, which is truly unheard of in today's mainstream Hollywood. And consider that it is very difficult to come up with something original given the number of films being made today. I must say that I have never seen anything like this before. If in Drive it was Ryan Gosling's cool jacket, here Gosling himself was cool and it doesn't end there, quite the opposite, which is one of the top moments of the film that you will get. It's a pity the ending is a bit weaker. I expected a bigger showdown. (25.08.2014)

Ein sehr merkwürdiger Film, über den ich mir auch einen Tag nach dem Anschauen immer noch eine Meinung bilde. Er passte wahrscheinlich nicht zu meiner Stimmung, vielleicht hätte er mein Herz erobert, wenn ich ihn zu einer anderen Zeit, in einer anderen Gemütsverfassung gesehen hätte. Ich verstehe die Abfolge und den Wechsel der Hauptstränge zwischen etwa drei oder vier Figuren nicht. Letztendlich hat mich die Musik am meisten bewegt, sie fängt eine beträchtliche Menge an Melancholie und Traurigkeit nach den Ereignissen in der ersten Hälfte des Films ein. Eine Fußnote - Ich verstehe nicht, wie eine Verleihfirma solch unsinnige Inhalte in die Welt setzen kann. (29.12.2022)

No, at the beginning it seemed like it would be a repeat of "Blue Valentine", more or less with the same cast, but in the end there was a significant twist. And then it continued in the style of the film "Blue Valentine". Director and screenwriter Derek Cianfrance has a gift for stories that breathe such a depression on you from the beginning that you won't be able to shake it off until the end. The world of his films has colors, only to quickly lose them and remain in dark shades. There is no hope here. Lives fall apart and you can't really do anything about it. (20.11.2013)

After a while, I thought Clint had pulled off this story split many times better in Changeling. If the whole movie had fleshed out the first part and been based on "Bradley chasing Ryan", it might have felt a lot more coherent in the end result. I'm not saying that the other two really separate stories don't make sense, but I had a definite problem with their delivery. If you’re supposed to take away from this that "all your shit will catch up with you one day anyway, and you can't escape it no matter how hard you try to be nice and human" then maybe let them, but for me it doesn't represent any kind of wisdom or "evocative movie experience". Blue Valentine was more intimate, more evocative, and a lot less intrusive. (18.08.2013)