The Place Beyond The Pines, like its director, does not want to be put in a box. This epic drama centered on choices you make and the effects they have on the next generation stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes and is never what you expect. It may overstay its welcome at times, but a good chunk of this film shows that Derek Cianfrance – the man behind 2010's visceral Blue Valentine - is going to be a director to keep a close eye on in the future.

When going into The Place Beyond The Pines, it is a good idea to forget how Universal and Focus Features marketed it. This is not a film about two men going on different paths simultaneously. Instead, Cianfrance and co-writers Ben Coccio and Darius Marder craft a film in a rigid three-act structure that means we do not meet Cooper's clean-cut cop Avery Cross until 45 minutes in.

The film's fist act – and its best – centers only on Gosling's Luke Glanton, a troubled man with his skin covered in tattoos. He is a motorcycle stuntman, making money by performing daring stunts at fairs. At his latest stop, he bumps into Romina (Mendes), a woman he had a relationship with. She tells him that he's the father of her son, so he decides to do whatever he can to support her. He's under the assumption that money fixes things – an assumption that has wronged many a movie character and does so here. Robbing banks doesn't help anyone. He's trying to go away with his family by doing the right thing the wrong way.

Cross dominates the middle act, swooping in as a reluctant hero. For him, life is the complete opposite as Glanton's. He's privileged, went to law school and is hoping to make a difference in the world. But he quickly learns that all the right things he's doing is getting the wrong results.

Cianfrance is a little too ambitious at this point, since in an effort to expand his scope beyond a two-person relationship, like the one that dominated Blue Valentine, he includes a third act that flashes forward 15 years. Cross' 17-year-old son is a total fool, a kid about to go off the tracks. He's a drunk and always looking for ways to get high. He had his father's privileges, but went a different path. Glanton's son is the opposite – a shy boy who has also gotten into drugs. Their conflict is the focus of the last act as the Glanton and Cross worlds finally collide again.

I was a huge fan of Blue Valentine, so I eagerly waited for a chance to see The Place Beyond The Pines. Like that film, Cianfrance plays with time, but in a more linear fashion with Pines. A juxtaposition of Glanton and Cross does not happen, which makes the introduction of Cross far more interesting. But it also makes the film longer than it needs to be and I couldn't help but wonder how the last act with their kids might have been trimmed.

Since this is only Cianfrance's second feature we haven't seen too much of his world, but we do know that amazing performances exist within. Gosling is so good that it is disappointing that he doesn't appear in two-thirds of the movie, but Cooper is strong enough to take the reins. Mendes also shines in her scenes, particularly when Cross and his cop 'friends' go to search her house. And the only really great aspect of the last third is Dane DeHaan's standout performance as Glanton's son.

Blu-ray: Pines arrives on Blu-ray on Aug. 6 with 10 minutes of deleted scenes and a 4-minute piece called “Going To The Place Beyond The Pines” that plays more like an extended trailer. Cianfrance also provides a commentary, which starts off with a bizarre story about how his first cinematographer dropped out. He also goes over his influences, Gosling's acting technique and the process of putting the film together.

I love films that aim for bigger themes and Cianfrance succeeds with an examination of how choices can reverberate through time, for better or worse. One man gets what he wants and is unfulfilled, another man's wishes are only realized after he is gone. If the film has one problem, it's that some key moments aren't on screen but some bland scenes are, making the film drag when it should be speeding ahead. There's a good film buried in Pines, but ambition may have gotten the best of Cianfrance.

You can talk about this film and others at the Film Friday Facebook page. You can check out past Film Friday columns here.

image: Amazon