Starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper
Directed by Derek Cianfrance
Derek Cianfrances Blue Valentine was an incredibly intimate affair that traced a relationship from start to finish, capturing moments both beguiling and brutal. While his follow up is equally ambitious, its scale is epic by comparison. Given the considerable challenge that Cianfrance has taken on, its only fitting that the film opens with the sound of someone drawing deep breaths, bracing himself for a death-defying stunt.
Unfolding over two decades, the film consists of three movements. The first concerns Luke (Ryan Gosling), a sideshow motorcycle rider who embarks on a crime spree to provide for his newborn son. The middle chapter focuses on Avery (Bradley Cooper), an ambitious cop and young father who must confront both Luke and corrupt police officers. Leaping ahead 15 years, the final portion finds Luke and Averys teenage sons (Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen) crossing paths.
From the masterful five-minute tracking shot that ushers it in through to the chaotic chase that closes it, Lukes story is the films most assured and self-contained. While Cooper delivers a deceptively complex performance, his chapter cant shake the sense that it primarily serves to plant narrative and thematic seeds that wont reach fruition until the films subsequent phase.
This closing sins of the father passage effectively imparts the tragic tale of two boys who arent haunted by their experiences so much as whats been absent from their lives.
Boasting enough technical brilliance and deeply affecting drama to steer it through its frustrating patches, Pines confirms just how rewarding it can be to watch a fearless filmmaker operate without a safety net. Curtis Woloschuk
