The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

Finally revisiting this film and once again crying when Jason puts on those sunglasses, the piano melody fades in, and he rides his bike down an all too familiar road. ​​​Derek Cianfrance, who formally worked on Blue Valentine with leading star Ryan Gosling, is once again aiming for the heart strings with this powerful movie about motorcycles! No wait, the cycle of life! We open with an impressive long tracking shot of Luke and we get to meet this rigid, smoky hot, vision that Ryan Gosling pulls off effortlessly. He's fantastic in this film but my personal favorite is Ben Mendelsohn as Robin. The full cast can be applauded. It took a team of great performances to pull off this magnificent feat of storytelling spanning 3 acts, 3 main characters, and probably more than 3 tissues to cry into depending on how you're feeling.  As a teenager this film really stuck with me for reasons I couldn't express and now over 10 years later its still lingering in my soul. I mean, this is the first review I've written in several years. It's definitely doing something great and I highly recommend it.

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