On recommendation I watched Blue Valentine, immediately in went into my top 20 films, (yeah it’s THAT good). Then, during the Glasgow Film Festival, I caught The Place Beyond The Pines, and it’s now vying for a place in that top 20.(yeah it’s THAT good)

Teaming up again with Blue Valentine leading man Ryan Gosling, Derek Cianfrance unfolds an incredibly heartfelt story of fathers and sons. You’ll root for the bad guy and turn your nose up at the good guy. Something Cianfrance is extremely good at making you do.

Ryan Gosling just gets better with every film I see him in, Eva Mendes plays a great support role, and Bradley Cooper can do no wrong in my eyes after the awesome Silver Linings Playbook. These two male actors are just getting better and better, and Eva Mendes shows a different side to the glamorous roles she typically plays. She is still beautiful with no makeup on, but it works.

The Place Beyond the Pines is a film about consequences, it reiterates to you that what goes on behind the scenes is not always clear cut. Half way through, the film spins around on a 360 pivot and you could be fooled into thinking you are watching a completely different film. I liked that, a lot. The sound track is so atmospheric, I checked a few times to see I was still in the cinema.

It’s out today and I cannot wait to see it again. Go see!

ps As a girl, I cannot ignore the elephant in the room that is the dreamy Ryan Gosling, and here we have Ryan Gosling with a baby! My ovaries having been aching ever since.