The Place Beyond the Pines

[vrailaine]

Just been to it, thought it was a mess. Liked some parts, other parts were laughably bad (well, at least one scene) and it was kinda clunky.


Ray Liotta has been having a bit of a revival in recent years, hasn't he? Or has he just resigned himself to picking smaller roles?

[Noodle Lizard]

I haven't seen the film yet, but I wasn't big on Mike Patton's soundtrack for it (which is a bad sign because I'm a fanboy).

Some people say the film's really good, though.  But I hated 'Blue Valentine', hate Ryan Gosling, hate Bradley Cooper and don't care about Eva Mendes.  And it's got that irritating-looking chap who played the cripple in 'Lawless' too.  I'm not convinced.  Would you say it's worth spending the £6 on?

[vrailaine]

Hmm. Relative to everything else that's even remotely on the horizon, I'd still say give it a shot. It's pretty stupidly ambitious, figure there's bound to be something to be gained from seeing that.

It's nothing like Blue Valentine, which I loved.

Sort of a spoiler, but not really, more a recommended time to give up on it if you're not digging it

Spoiler alert

When it switches over to Cooper, if you're hating it by then, leave, because it's not going to get any better.

[close]

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm also seethingly annoyed that they used a rubbish, stripped version of Arvo Pärt's 'Fratres' on the soundtrack.  Just use the original for fuck's sake.

[Wet Blanket]

I wasn't much keen on Blue Valentine either but I loved this. I'm all for huge, sprawling, novelistic films with acting everywhere. Fantastic performances all round (any film featuring Ben Mendelsohn is worth the ticket price) and even though it was basically nonsense, I was thoroughly engaged by the melodrama of it all for the full 2 and a half hours. Possibly my favourite film of the year so far.

[Head Gardener]

I agree with WB and really enjoyed this, I knew nothing about it before
I went in and was happily suprised. I loved it's sprawling storyline, the music,
and everything about it really, certainly one of my fave films of the year so far.

[BlodwynPig]

Two of the most unlikeable lead actors, a terribe trailer - otherwise I would have been interested in seeing this.

[The Duck Man]

Meant to start a thread on this after I saw it, ooh, a week last Friday. Glad someone actually got round to it.

Kermode said to enjoy it you have to accept its "mythic" quality - i.e. that while seeking to being realistic, the plot is actually a Greek-tragedy style one of co-incidental meetings and consequences across generations. I agree to an extent, but I didn't feel that a suspension of disbelief/acceptance that it was of a particular genre was required to enjoy it.

That being said, the silliest part probably is that

Spoiler alert

despite apparently being haunted by Gosling's death to the extent he keeps a photo of him in his wallet, and being in the middle of a highly-scrutinised election campaign where any hitch needs to be anticipated, he chooses to enroll his son of the same age in a school in which Gosling's son is highly likely to attend.

[close]

I'm not sure they got the greatest handle on Gosling's character, he's meant to be a reasonable guy who makes terrible, impulsive decisions, but perhaps we needed to see a bit more of the mindset that leads him to make those decisions - he seems quite sedate at points that he probably shouldn't be (maybe you could lay that at Gosling's door, given his muted schtick, I dunno).

And Cooper's character progression from

Spoiler alert

dedicated beat cop to ambitious politician might have been tackled with more nuance. You can see it coming in the way he negotiates terms to inform on the police, and we're told he has a politician's pedigree (famous Dad, law degree etc.), but that's about it.

[close]

But in general I enjoyed it. It looks very nice, and there's excellent performances throughout.

Seems to be doing rather well at Manchester Cornerhouse, given it's still on. I decided to see it over Springbreakers, which I assumed I might be able to see a week or so later, but it disappeared after a week, while this remains. Although it could have just got a bigger release.

[Zetetic]

'Sprawling' is a good way of putting it.

[TrevorDistance]

I thought it was a complete mess. i get the greek tragedy aspect of it, but each "episode" wasn't strong enough to stand on it's own feet (with Gosling's being the strongest). My one word review on leaving the cinema was "exasperating"

[Mini]

I just saw this and I think melodramatic is the word. I like Gosling (he looks effortlessly cool in an inside-out baggy t-shirt with holes in it) though I'm less convinced by Cooper, and the whole thing feels rambling and gets worse as it goes along. Mike Patton's score fits the over-the-top tone and the whole thing looks great. But it stretches believability too far and the characters are all horrible people whose actions make very little sense. Ben Mendelsohn and Ray Liotta are both great though. But as for the ending,

Spoiler alert

could Gosling's kid ride the bike because his dad was good at it? Is that genetic?

[close]

Stupid.

[Noodle Lizard]

Seems as good a place as any to talk a bit about the score[nb]Because I HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM AND AM NOT QUALIFIED TO COMMENT ON'T[/nb]:  it bothered me a lot that it all sounded very "I just knocked this up on Logic".  The sounds and samples are all things that anyone with even a limited experience of Logic or Cubase would recognise, including those horrible "Female Choir Vocals 6" as inputted by a MIDI keyboard which always sound dreadful.  Presumably he had a fairly high budget to work with, and yet it sounds a lot less authentic than his score for the micro-budget 'A Perfect Place', for instance.  What a fucking cunt.

[Zetetic]

But as for the ending,

Spoiler alert

could Gosling's kid ride the bike because his dad was good at it? Is that genetic?

[close]

Stupid.

I don't think you have to believe that for the ending to make some sense.

[Sam]

I'm also seethingly annoyed that they used a rubbish, stripped version of Arvo Pärt's 'Fratres' on the soundtrack.  Just use the original for fuck's sake.

Well, due to the aleatoric elements in the piece, every performance is different and there's no such thing as 'the original'.

Sorry, I'm in the mood to be pedantic today. Pride comes before a fall, so I urge you to call me on something I've written before this escalates...

[Mildly Diverting]

Well, due to the aleatoric elements in the piece, every performance is different and there's no such thing as 'the original'.

Sorry, I'm in the mood to be pedantic today.

Well, the word that springs to mind begins with a p...

[Sam]

Well, the word that springs to mind begins with a p...

Pianissimo?

[Mildly Diverting]

You got it.

[Noodle Lizard]

Well, due to the aleatoric elements in the piece, every performance is different and there's no such thing as 'the original'.

Sorry, I'm in the mood to be pedantic today. Pride comes before a fall, so I urge you to call me on something I've written before this escalates...

That was awfully pedantic.  I meant the original recording put out by Arvo on Tabula Rasa, which has been used plenty of times before.  That being said, I just saw the film and it works far better there than it does on its own little feet.  Weirdly, I think most of the score comprised of that rather than Patton's stuff, which seemed more incidental.

Anyway, the film was better than I thought it would be and I had a good time watching it for the most part, but around halfway through the final "chapter" I did start feeling a bit "Oh what's the point in this?"  Still, it's not bad.