The Place Beyond the Pines

The film points out how tough it can be to escape from cycles of violence, how misguided attempts to speed ahead only set someone on the road to ruin, and how the compulsion to ride like the wind is inextricable from the fear that you’re getting nowhere.

Its themes are familiar - guilt; redemption; manliness; those fraternal sins - but Cianfrance's artistry and the actors' riveting performances hook you in, and may even bring depth.

Its narrative riskiness and emotional avidity don't always make for the smoothest viewing experience. But Cianfrance seems less interested in a tidy chronicle than in exploring some threads, in creating a feeling and seeing where it goes.

Grand, plangent and innervating, Cianfrance's latest is more than adequate proof that he's as cut out for the big as for the small of cinema.

That said, there's something about The Place Beyond the Pines that grows on you-something tragic, something that sits uncomfortably in the gut.

What Cianfrance has written has scraps of surprise and a fine chase sequence, but it doesn't reach for the stars or the emotional cosmos -- or, at least, it doesn't know how to get there.

An uneven, evocative drama that generated strong opinions a decade ago but then disappeared from the public consciousness is deserving of another look.

Despite Ryan Gosling's prominence on the poster and other associated promotional materials, this lo-fi twisting, turning drama actually features more of another Hollywood heart-throb – Bradley Cooper.

Cianfrance never allows his viewers to escape the heartbreak of his film, consuming us with a resounding feeling of sorrow over these characters and the way their lives set paths for one another.

The camerawork is fantastic and the performances are solid across the board.