tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post419992794101930320..comments2024-03-28T02:30:08.913-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: The Place Beyond the Pines (Derek Cianfrance, 2013)Jakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-15023192794901963472013-04-30T10:49:24.293-04:002013-04-30T10:49:24.293-04:00I'm all about style, and I'm not one to pu...I'm all about style, and I'm not one to pull the style over substance card because style, of course, IS the substance. But the substance in Cianfrance's style is so toxic that, barring a rapid maturation, I don't know how many more chances I want to give him.Jake Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15532951308638768249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-69455401483645691542013-04-30T10:45:55.083-04:002013-04-30T10:45:55.083-04:00See, I don't think it could ever have been an ...See, I don't think it could ever have been an inspired father-and-son picture, at least not without a recalibration so massive it would no longer be a generational drama at all. It lives and dies on its symbolic import, which is so heavy-handed yet half-drawn as to collapse under its pretension. That it's so dressed up in reductive class and racial politics it barely recognizes makes it so much worse.Jake Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15532951308638768249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-84736485045578428472013-04-21T15:16:00.672-04:002013-04-21T15:16:00.672-04:00I seemed to have liked the film a lot more than yo...I seemed to have liked the film a lot more than you did, but I liked it <i>despite</i> the problematic shortcomings in narrative progression and class relations. <br />He's certainly a capable stylist - I see influences of films like, say, Frankenheimer's Grand Prix as inspirations rather recreations in Pines - but if he didn't have co-writers I'd say he's desperately in need of a different perspective on his script. Amirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06862108887275338771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-7024746253086705322013-04-20T09:59:24.635-04:002013-04-20T09:59:24.635-04:00A brilliant, exhaustive piece of criticism, Jake. ...A brilliant, exhaustive piece of criticism, Jake. <br /><br />Whilst I enjoyed elements of Pines, I am in complete agreement of Cianfrance's inability to express the story in a way that is engaging and sufficient to withstand the exhaustive running time. I've seen it considered as a great character piece, yet everyone is so taciturn, opaque and formulaic that I could never evoke any sympathy with what could have been an inspired, father and son picture.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com