The Place Beyond The Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines is a film directed by Derek Cianfrance and was released in 2013. The themes that this film revolves around are Power, corruption,death and greed, though we find that the most obvious theme and motif throughout the entire film is the relationship between fathers and their sons, however the film doesn't blatently portray a typical idea of a father and his sons relationship but rather explores how much a father can influence his son and the different relationships that can be had. we see multiple fatherly characters develop throughout the journey of the film. The Place Beyond the Pines follows the life of Luke(Ryan Gosling) which tragically ends midpoint during the film, the film then continues its story through the police officer who killed him eventually drawing to end and concluding with their sons.

This is not the only Cianfrance film that ryan gosling has been in. Blue valentine(2010) was the other film where ryan Gosling takes a protagonist role, this film falls under the drama and romance genre and is interestingly enough an independant film. this is in high contrast with some of cianfrances other films which seem like they had a much higher budget and were more of a mainstream hollywood film. 

Referring back to the idea that we see many different fatherly characters develop throughout the film links to an aspect of the film which I personally found quite interesting and intriguing. The choice to use a black actor as the step father of a Caucasian boy was a fascinating decision which presents many underlying messages. it poses the idea that it doesn't matter if its clear that people may not be related you can still be family,this also helps support the vague concept that differences the two sons posses brings them closer, including the sad truth behind how their lives are interlinked.