This film captures those events around the legendary motorcycle rider, Luke, Ryan Gosling. Luke began to emerge from the world of a carnival traveling from death in an attempt to support his new family. Luke left the life of the carnival and committed a series of bank robberies. The film revolves around the sweeping drama of fifteen years of schoolboy life wrestling with the legacy they inherited.
In the quietly decaying tragic-Americana setting of this fine film, the story is one of far-reaching repercussions, and how the loss of the father's virtue lands upon the son.
Its narrative riskiness and emotional avidity don't always make for the smoothest viewing experience. But Cianfrance seems less interested in a tidy chronicle than in exploring some threads, in creating a feeling and seeing where it goes.
Cianfrance and his sterling cast keep it all together, vanquishing doubt and soap suds. There's a palpable sense of teamwork that brings out the best in all of these players.
This naturalistic drama is ambitious to the point of being unwieldy... But once the story has advanced from one generation to the next and its thematic sweep has become apparent, these flaws seem much more tolerable.
