The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) is now showing at the New Capitol Cinemas. It is perhaps the best movie playing this season at the New Capitol Cinemas.
It is a serious and intelligent film, rooted in human foibles and the tragedies that befall people. It cuts across gender, race and class with penetration and understanding. It encompasses generational views of life and changes and it confronts police corruption head on. The Place Beyond the Pines is the original Native American Mohawk name for Schenectady, New York, where most of the film was made. This small town provides a reflection on some of the contradictions and tensions that confront people absorbed in surviving against overwhelming odds. The tale is told in three distinct chapters and through the perspective of three men. The film opens in a travelling carnival (filmed at Altamont, New York, fairgrounds). It has returned to Schenectady after nearly two years of absence. Watch the back of Luke (acted by Ryan Gosling) as he walks to his performance as a motorcycle stunt man in the Cage of Death. The promotion of the film has focused on Gosling, because he is a star and will attract audiences. It really belongs to Bradley Cooper who plays Avery Cross, a policeman with a conscience who tries to be a whistle blower. Avery is in all three chapters, but the second chapter belongs to him.
