The Place Beyond the Pines can be thought of as a fusion of three separate films. In Part I we follow the life of Luke, a carnival stuntman with a gift for motorcycle driving. Luke’s ex-girlfriend Romina pays a visit to him before he leaves on a lengthy tour, but his plans change once he discovers he’s the father of Jack, Romina’s one year-old son. He decides to stay and turns to bank robbing in the fleeting hope of starting a new life with them. But Romina has a already started a life with another man, Kofi, and the money and gifts Luke provides Jack and Romina create more chaos in his relationships with them than good. Luke, frustrated, becomes violent and reckless and in his last bank robbery is shot to death by a police officer, Avery.
In Part II the focus of the story switches to Avery. Avery is plagued with guilt over the death of Jack as he shot first in their gunfight, a secret he holds onto for the duration of the film. He worries about the fate of Luke’s family and son especially because he has his own wife and one year-old, AJ. Avery is considered a hero, but his remorse prevents him from enjoying the honors bestowed upon him. To make matters worse for Avery, some corrupt members of his police force take him on a joyride to Romina’s home where they perform an illegal search in the hopes of finding Luke’s missing stash of loot. Avery is forced to take the money they find, but he soon realizes there is an additional price for his reward; he is expected to take part in other illegal schemes with the same officers. Part II ends with Avery ratting out his precinct’s dirty cops and leveraging his way into the district Attorney’s office.
Fifteen years pass. Like Part II, Part III begins with the death of a father, in this case Avery’s dad, a prominent politician. Avery has started his own political legacy and is running for Attorney General. He is now divorced and his son AJ, a rebellious adolescent, wants to move in with him. Avery reluctantly agrees and AJ enrolls in a new high school. By an extreme coincidence, possible in the fictional world only, AJ attends the same school as Jack, Luke’s son and the two become good friends. Jack has been kept in the dark about his father’s crimes and the circumstances of his death. He like AJ experiments with recreational drugs and the two are arrested after a visit to a dealer. Avery, a powerful political figure, comes to the aid of his son AJ and Jack. After he realizes Jack’s identity he forbids his son from having any more contact with him. But the two remain friends and gradually Jack puts the pieces together of his father’s past and death. He confronts AJ with a loaded gun, wounding him, and takes Avery hostage. The two drive into a secluded place in the pines and it seems certain Jack will have his revenge on the man who killed his father, but Jack can’t pull the trigger. He asks Avery for his wallet and he finds an old family photo of himself, Luke and Romina. Avery held onto it for 15 years just as he held onto his inconsolable guilt. The teen is overcome with emotion and runs away.
Each one of these stories could possibly stand on its own as a film, but by editing them together, the viewer is able to draw complex parallels between the story lines and the characters and perhaps gain greater insight into their psyches. One of the most clear parallels is the way in which Avery and Jack both follow in the footsteps of Luke. It’s as if after he dies the dark side of his spirit possesses each of them and each man must find a way to exorcise it. Avery like Luke becomes an outlaw: He lies about the circumstances of the shooting, he steals Luke’s bank robbery money and almost joins the ring of dirty cops in his precinct. As well, like Luke, Avery tries to provide for Romina and Jack. In Part I there is a scene in which Luke offers a wad of stolen cash wrapped in a garbage bag to Romina. It takes place by her car parked near the restaurant where she works. In Part II Avery tries to similarly help Romina by returning the same bundle of bills as she darts towards her car by the restaurant. The similarities in character behavior, photography, setting and even the dialogue help to create a parallel between Avery and Luke. Avery has become Luke, essentially, and if he had continued on this dark path, he might have ended up with a similar tragic fate. Part I therefore helps to create suspense in Part II as we anticipate Avery’s downfall. But Avery, unlike Luke finds another way. Though not a perfect man, he has more integrity, resources, a wealthy and powerful father, and resourcefulness than Luke and is able to find a way out of an impossible situation.
In Part III it is Jack that becomes the outlaw as he learns about his father. He visits the home of Luke’s bank robbery partner and literally walks in Luke’s footsteps as he tours his old trailer. Jack next takes to stealing like his father, taking Oxycontin from from a pharmacy to supply AJ’s house party with drugs. Once Jack realizes Avery murdered his father he becomes increasingly violent just as his father did threatening and shooting AJ and planning Avery’s death. But again, Jack, like Avery found another way. He couldn’t bring himself to kill Avery after taking him to a secluded spot in the forest and he ran way to start a new life beyond the pines. Some of the photography helped to emphasize the similarities between father and son like the high angle shot of Jack riding thought a winding road and an earlier shot of Luke riding along the same road on his motorcycle. As the movies end, Jack purchases his first motorcycle and is able to ride it effortlessly as if he was born to do so, just like his father. In the end, Jack doesn’t become the man Luke was, but instead becomes the man Luke could have been.
There are many other parallels between the different sections of the film:
When Jack forces Avery to drive into the woods at gunpoint, it’s reminiscent of when a corrupt cop from Avery’s precinct led him into the forest, possibly to be executed. Similar high camera angles and the same dark, misty wooded location emphasize the parallels. Perhaps these scenes were made alike to heighten tension. We know from experience that bad things might happen in that forest. Or perhaps, in a more metaphysical sense, old business from the past is finally going to be dealt with; Avery is finally going to be punished for old crimes.
Early in the film, Luke takes Romina and Jack to an ice cream parlor and they all take a photo together that becomes a key element in the film.. Years later Jack has a talk with his adopted father Kofi outside of the same shop. Jack questions him about Luke’s past, but Kofi can tell him little out of respect for Romina’s wishes. The parallels between the scenes allow us to compare the fathers and to see how both of them love Jack.
The movie opens with a Steadicam following Luke into a steel cage where he performs on his motorcycle. In Part III there is a similar shot of Jack walking through a party at AJ’s. Using similar shots helps to create a loose visual ink between father and son and helps to remind us that Jack is following in his father’s footsteps. Both father and son have reckless side. Luke risks his life in a motorcycle cage and Jack risks his body by experimenting with drugs.
All of these parallels help us to examine the many relationships between fathers and sons in the film. As well, in a greater sense, these similarities help to link the three segments of the film together and help the film become more of a cohesive whole.