Luke (Academy Award® nominee Ryan Gosling) is a high-wire motorcycle stunt performer who travels with the carnival from town to town. While passing through Schenectady in upstate New York, he tries to reconnect with a former lover, Romina (Eva Mendes), only to learn that she has given birth to their son Jason in his absence. Luke decides to give up life on the road to try and provide for his newfound family by taking a job as a car mechanic. Noticing Luke’s ambition and talents, his employer Robin (Ben Mendelsohn) proposes to partner with Luke in a string of spectacular bank robberies – which will place Luke on the radar of ambitious rookie cop Avery Cross (Academy Award® nominee Bradley Cooper).
More material on Beyond the Pines Tumblr. Opening in limited release March 29.
Trailer and poster after the cut.
Already saw it. Great movie, nearly as great as Blue Valentine. Reviews are good so far. Mendes pulls it off, but it’s not like she has a huge or complex role. Cooper is piercing, but his performance is mired in the least interesting segment of the film. Gosling and the two young actors who are front and center for the last portion of the story are captivating.
It’s nothing like Drive. So “Drive 2” is an ignorant and frankly stupid comment.
Not sure Eva Mendes can pull that off. I find her so mediocre as an actress.
Saw this at the Dublin Film Festival last month – not as good as “Blue Valentine” but really enjoyed it. It was nearly a sold out screening for 10.30am on a Sunday morning.
Perfect explanation, CMG. It makes sense. Thanks.
It got a mixed reception out of TIFF and the fact it is a March release than being immediately bought and distributed immediately is not the strongest sign (I know The Hurt Locker went through the festival circuit for a year guys, but that is an outlier). Still, Gosling and Cooper as your co-leads should be a pretty safe bet for box office. Then again, this is a long, pulpy, if bludgeoning in themes saga according to people who have seen it. It is possibly not as accessible as it seems to be on paper. Remember those Blue Valentine (the previous Cianfrance-Coccio collaboration) promos of that cute sequence of Michelle Williams tap dancing as Gosling sang playing his ukelele? That was not the movie people ended up seeing.
Also, locals are ticked off that the local theaters were not given a special premiere date from Fox Searchlight since they provided so many resources, settings, and extras from the area. But it appears Cianfrance and Coccio had no control over what Focus Features is doing.
Wait a minute… Limited release?!?!?!?! With that mainstream cast? Why? To anti comercial narrative filmmkaing (slow rhythm, etc)??
I LOVED Blue Valentine so I am definitely looking forward to this even though Eva Mendes’ face annoys me.
Oh spoke too soon. I thought this was finally gonna be the Weinstein/Bradley Cooper flick that I liked, but it’s Focus Features. Can’t wait to see it.
The trailer for this one is badly cut, and makes the film look like a mixed-up mess. Let’s hope it’s just the trailer at fault….
So…it’s Drive 2
Shot in my hometown! That said, as cool as it is for the bank I passed everyday to be featured, that poster is poorly done.
Also this movie caused me to have the unfortunate, but inevitable discovery of Jeff Wells when he badmouthed this and the women of our area out of TIFF.