The Place Beyond The Pines II

Oh my, I meant to post about this film a lot sooner. Right after I went to see it last Sunday actually - but sometimes things come up unexpected and you have to set priorities.
SO, "The place beyond the pines", this wonderful small film made by Derek Cianfrance (who made the beautifully sad "Blue Valentines two years ago), co-starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendelsohn and introducing the fabulous newcomer Dane DeHaan as Ryan Goslings son. I have been exited about seeing this since I saw the trailer for the first time - and no, Mr. Gosling is not the only reason that I really wanted to see it.

The film is divided into three parts, the story is simple: Luke (Gosling) is a stunt driver in the late 80's/early 90's, who meets a beautiful woman, Romina (real-life girlfriend Mendes), who soon becomes pregnant by him. Once Luke finds out he has a son, he wants to be able to provide for him and try to have a family with Romina. Luke meets another washed-up guy (a very realistic Mendelsohn) and they start robbing banks. One day something goes wrong and Luke gets caught. He gets shot by a cop, Avery (surprisingly well played by Cooper), and from there on the second story takes place. The second part is pretty much entirely dedicated to Avery. A cop who falls under the spell of a couple of corrupt police men, tying to make quick money. This will soon lead to the third and final chapter of the film, which takes place almost 17 years later. Avery's and Luke's sons are seventeen by now and, even though they are quite different, start a bond when they meet in High-School. They are no aware at this point that their fathers once met under fatal circumstances.
I do not want to give away too much but in my opinion the third part of the film is the strongest of the entire movie. "The place beyond the pines" is  pretty much carried by its actors and the beautiful cinematography. It's dark, almost gritty at times - Cianfrance took over eight years to make this film and the result is well worth the wait.

On the road.

On the road - the wonderful novel by Jack Kerouac, published in 1957, written in the late forties. I have to admit that I have never actually read the whole book - I did start it when I was younger but maybe I was a little too young (a teenager I suppose) therefore a lot didn't make sense to me or I couldn't relate to it. I would definitely want to give it a another shot today - and not only because it is considered a timeless, cult classic novel. 

So when I heard that Walter Salles (director of "The Motorcycle Diaries") had taken on the project of turning the famous novel into a motion picture, staring Sam Riley and Kristen Stewart, I was divided: I am really not a fan of Kristen Stewart but I do like Sam Riley (mainly as Ian Curtis in "Control"). I decided to give it a shot on Friday night and ... surprisingly I was not disappointed! 
The plot is simple - after the death of his father Sal (played by Sam Riley, who also narrates the whole story), who is a young writer, meets Dean in New York City in 1947. Dean wants to be a writer too, but he also likes to party, which involves a lot of drugs and booze,  fooling around with too many girls and in general not take life too seriously. 
Dean and Sal soon find themselves on a road trip, accompanied by MaryLou (played by a pretty blank Kristen Stewart), who is Dean's 16 year-old child-wife. From there on we see Sal going on a variety of  road trips, meeting different characters (among them Viggo Mortensen as William S. Burroughs, Amy Adams as his wife Jane, and Kirsten Dunst as Dean's second wife) chronicled through the late 1940's. 

I thought the film was incredibly beautifully shot, well acted (especially by Riley and Hedlund), it was very stylish and the obvious eye candy (Dean portrayed by Garrett Hedlund) can't hurt either. The soundtrack and the fashion really stood out for me - it was a time of beatniks,  a time before the word "hipster" existed (even though the cast resembles today's hipsters), a time of writing literature and poetry, a time where rules - and life  were not taken too seriously. After leaving the theatre I felt almost melancholic - longing for a time long before I was even born, a place that I only visited once but which felt so magical to me: New York City. 

"The only people for me are the mad ones," Sal says in one of the book's (and the film's) most celebrated passages. "The ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like Roman candles across the night."

Exploring Los Angeles on foot

Yes, it is possible: You can walk in L.A. Up to this day I would not believe this to be true - well, to a certain point maybe: Like parking your car and then walking a couple of blocks to your preferred destination. Well, my friend Jason proved me different today.

Him and I explored downtown Los Angeles by foot today, and we probably walked a good five miles or more! If I would have only left my vanity home and worn comfortable tennis shoes instead of my Prada Chelsea Boots!..

We took the metro to Union Station and then headed from there via Olvera Street to our first destination: The Last Bookstore. (The LA Times had currently an article about this gem: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-0303-last-bookstore-pictures,0,1153539.photogallery?index=lat-cindy-last-bookstore-la0008382652-20130131)

This place is unbelievable - only a few years old, this old warehouse in the former banking district hosts over 100.000  books on 10.000 sq. ft. Downstairs you find anythings from fiction, history to art and photography books, new as well as gently used - and even a pretty decent collection of vinyls. On the upper level we were greeted with an overwhelming amount of used books, for only a dollar each! The Last Bookstore also offers open mic nights and other events, as I found out from the friendly sales assistant. After Jason and me left with one book each, after probably one hour and a half of browsing, we headed to the Grand Central Market to get a coffee and take the trolley up the Angels Flight to Bunker Hill, where we ate our brought-from-home-sandwiches. Jason informed me that the park underneath the Angel Flights was used in "500 days of summer", the particular scene were Zoey Deschanel and Jason Gordon-Lewitt sit on a bench and he shows her his drawings. ( I can't believe I even remember that scene as I really did not care for the film at all)

After finishing our lunch we walked the good 2 miles to Chinatown, which is so vibrant in all its colors and different smells. After browsing through gift shops and taking tons of pictures it was time to head back to Union Station to catch the metro home. Jason was an excellent tour guide and I can't wait to explore more parts of the city - by foot of course!

Red Zora