The Place Beyond The Pines clip analysis

The Place Beyond The Pines Clip Analysis

 

 

The Place Beyond the Pines is a drama spanning over 3 main characters and the struggles they go through, the clip we are analysing is from the first character’s story - Luke (Ryan Gosling) and how he has quit his job and is visiting his ex-girlfriend and baby who he believes to be his son.

The scene opens with a diegetic voiceover and extreme long shot of the carnival which Luke rides a motorcycle in as part of a stunt act. The whole 4 minute clip can be expressed through one thing. Ryan Goslings facial expressions. The level of acting that Ryan Gosling puts into his role is phenomenal as if you take away the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds throughout the clip, you will still gain a remarkable understanding of what is happening and how he feels.

At the opening of the clip, we have a close up of Ryan Gosling as he lights a cigarette and from the closeness of this, we are drawn in to his world and as we have a side on view of him, the mise-en-scene of his tattoos inform us of how he is a rough guy with maybe a soft centre as he is shown to care about his family despite being separated. The camera only pans to his boss once in this scene however from what I can gather, he’s in a higher position of power to Luke however Luke is the only character of importance to the story, therefore the camera is focused on him and his reactions to situations.

The next shot we see is an extreme long shot of Luke on his bike riding down the street, decreasing distance into a long shot as he pulls up outside his ex-girlfriend’s house. The colours are very basic here as Luke is wearing all white, and his bike is white too bar a red jumper and the black saddle. This could be trying to insinuate the pureness that Luke wants to feel but ultimately he can’t due to mistakes he has made or will make.

So far we have only heard diegetic sounds so this gives a more realistic approach to filmmaking, the fact you can hear cars in the background of Luke’s conversation with Romina (ex-girlfriend) is fascinating because they aren’t in a fancy Hollywood shoot its just plain and simple everyday life for these people. When Luke first arrives at the house we get a close up of his nervous face and the movements of his head are matched to the camera movement which to me implies that we are inside his head right now and what we are about to experience is all based on his emotions. The shots are close mid shots when the focus is on Romina (Eva Mendes) and also partial over the shoulder shots because we also see the back of Luke in these shots. When Romina is on screen, she talks and we expect a shot reverse shot when Luke talks however this isn’t the case. Instead, we maintain focus on Romina to reveal her reactions to whatever Luke says and this further creates reasoning that we are in the mind of Luke wanting to see what Romina’s reaction is, therefore by tricking the audience into thinking we will see Luke when he speaks, the director effectively creates true emotion within these characters.

While this interaction is playing out, we not only have to focus on Romina to understand certain situations these characters are in, but also the clothes each character is wearing. Luke appears to be wearing a shirt that is inside out so either he is doing this because, financially, he is struggling or also mentally if he doesn’t realise this or purposely realises it but doesn’t take action.

When the camera cuts back to Luke, an American flag is visible so there is a sense of patriotism here and allowing audiences to explicitly know where they are and what kind of neighbourhood they are in. The key lighting is shining onto Luke’s face, illuminating him and making the rest of the screen dark which makes me as a viewer shift my full attention onto his face and allows me to make judgements on what he is feeling, and what it must be like for him. We also see an eye line match Cut because we see Luke stare at someone as they walk out of the door and then in the next shot the camera is on them walking out of the door, and this is then repeated for when Kofi - Romina’s new partner (played by Mahershala Ali) is staring at Luke.

Further into the clip, a church baptism is taking place and all Luke can do is watch on, helplessly. There is an extreme long shot of the church interior and top lighting is generated which allows the church to be lit for all to see however it could also be a religious choice because the light may be coming down from the heavens, from God. As Luke enters we have a long mid shot and then the cut is another eye line match because the next shot we see is of his baby getting baptised. The camera movement here is once again tilting and shaking slightly as the baby gets lowered which allows the camera and audience to always be focused on this baby. If the camera was stationary then the baby would soon be out of shot. In this scene there is constant diegetic and non-diegetic sound, which involves the priest saying the Lord’s Prayer and also the sermon of baptism. The non-diegetic sound is a holy sounding drone, once again creating the full mise-en-scene picture of being in a church and having religious contexts. The next thing we see is very powerful and moving, it is a continuous close up of Luke’s face which lasts for 38 seconds and in this time we see him watch something he struggles to cope with and he breaks down in tears. The beauty of this scene is that I can watch it with no sound and still come to terms with what is happening. The only difference with sound is that the Lord’s Prayer further pulls on the heart strings as there is no stopping it and for Luke this has destroyed his world.