DVD & Blu-ray review: The Place Beyond the Pines (15)

Derek Cianfrance DVD/Blu-ray (140mins)

“Not since Hall and Oates has there been such a team,” Ryan Gosling's bank robber, Luke, quips to his partner (the excellent Ben Mendelsohn). They're not that good. Ill-educated Luke needs money to provide for a son from a tryst with a waitress (Eva Mendes). It can't end well. Derek Cianfrance shifts mood and time-frames, moving the story 15 years forward to witness how Luke's son turns out, in this powerful exploration of violence and corruption in the US. A fiercely ambitious morality drama with compelling performances from Gosling and Bradley Cooper as a conflicted cop.