[film] The Place Beyond the Pines

[inulro]

I wanted to go to the cinema this weekend, and it was either this or Iron Man 3.

I'd heard that it's good but that it doesn't quite know what kind of a film it wants to be.

It is indeed very, very good, and while it does veer all over the place, it's not because it doesn't know what it wants to be, it's because the makers had ideas and a vision that didn't fit nicely into the usual boxes. Near the end you think "oh, it's X" and then it ends very differently.

Grim in places, uplifting in others. I can't believe the city of Schenectady, NY let them film there, given that part of the plot is the exposure of not at all subtle corruption in the police force. The surrounding countryside is gorgeous, though.

It's long, and although it does feel long at times (because a lot happens), it's not one that I feel is gratuitously over-long for no good reason.

Definitely - yeah, makes you think. Good stuff.

Comments

[redcountess]

I'm amused at the title because the rough neighbourhood of where I live (which is pretty rough anyway) is called The Pines :->

[inulro.livejournal.com]

That's appropriate. The title of the film comes from the literal Mohawk meaning of Schenectady, and although the surrounding countryside is gorgeous, the town itself is pretty rough.