It's unusual to me to see movies with distinct acts
anymore. Sure, you can tease out
story points and changes in tone.
You can track character arcs and suspect what may be coming next. But to see legitimate acts, changes in
focus from one character to another, with tonal qualities that are represented
not only in the characters but in the film itself? I feel like that's an art that isn't well-represented
nowadays.
And then there's The Place Beyond The Pines.
It's billed as a Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper movie about
good guys and bad guys, cops and robbers.
It appeared in the trailers as action and suspense, with drama and maybe
a love story thrown in for good measure.
I guess on the surface, that's an accurate representation. Yet….not at all.
I can't really figure out the right order to address all of
the things in my head, so I'm just going to jump right in.
First of all, it's not a Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper
movie. It's a Ryan Gosling then
Bradley Cooper movie. The two
characters share a scene together - a brief but intensely important scene that
sets up the end of Act I and the beginning of Acts II and III. When Gosling makes his swift exit,
Cooper steps in to take the reins.
Gosling remains a presence through the rest of the film, but he is not
shown again other than in a picture at the end. Our bad guy has been defeated, ultimately, and our good guy
has appeared to enjoy the spotlight.
Act I is the story of a tattoo-covered Gosling who learns
he's a dad and tries to find a way to provide for his child - using his unique
skillset and a friend's knowledge to rob banks. As you can surmise, this doesn't end particularly well,
leading to Gosling's departure from the film, through a window, early on.
The cop who cornered our anti-hero becomes our new focus,
single-handedly bringing down the corruption in his police department and
working a promotion to ADA into the deal.
He's smarter than everyone around him and uses it to his advantage, all
while caring for his own small child and wife.
Fifteen years pass and it appears that our old cop friend is
now making a run for Attorney General, while working with his now-ex-wife to
raise their teenage son. Cooper
takes a backseat here, to let his boy Avery (or AJ) take the lead, splitting
the screen with new friend Jason.
These two become our third act focus, as we anxiously wait for the
reveal that these two are more intimately connected than either could possibly
be aware.
So three acts, each with a totally separate focus. The narratives are clearly connected,
but our POV has an effect on how we comprehend what we are seeing. The filmmakers aren't satisfied with
just giving us a new perspective, though.
The ways that they crafted the acts were impressive in and of
themselves. I'm not well versed in
lighting and camera use to go into a lot of details, other than that there were
choices clearly made to make each act look distinct, while still keeping the
overall story uniform. It was
subtle, and it was wonderful to see.
I can say though that I was particularly drawn to the use of
shaky cam throughout the film. In
Act I, with Gosling's story front and center, there were scenes that didn't
make a ton of sense to me to use shaky cam. He wasn't necessarily running or jumping or doing anything
crazy to necessitate it, but then it clicked. The shaky cam was somehow tied to his emotion. When he was panicking, or angry, or
unstable, the shaky cam became more noticeable. It was the strongest during the last couple scenes of Act I,
as Bradley Cooper's character was introduced and Gosling's was reaching out to
anything that could save him, trying to come to terms with the inescapable
position he had gotten himself into.
And once that was over, the shaky cam ceased. Cooper's character was much more self-sufficient, self-aware,
and self-confident. He did was was
needed, he made decisions that were sound, and he stuck by them with
surity. The shaky cam only came
back in bits and spurts after that, when things got hectic or panicked again -
but never as long or as intensely as it was used with Gosling. As we entered Act III, the shaky cam
came back just a little bit - whether this was to tie Gosling's son to his
father or just to show the imbalance within the two boys, I'm not sure. But when they were steadfast in their
decisions, the camera held still.
The more I think about it, the more this decision just seems
genius. Maybe they didn't plan it
that way, but man did it work.
