The story begins with Luke (Gosling), a circus performer and motorcycle enthusiast, who discovers he fathered a child with Romina, a one-night stand during his last visit. Luke, shocked by the situation and at a loss for memories of his own father, decides to quit his job to support the child. Of course when all other plans dry up, he resorts to bank-robbing.
The next chapter then begins with Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), a cop who catches Luke in the act. He becomes a local hero of sorts, injured in the line of fire, himself with a child of similar age. During his off time, he discovers the corruption within the city's police system, and battling with his own personal demons, faces the criticism of his friends and coworkers to resolve the issue.
And the final chapter: fifteen years later, when we follow Luke and Avery's sons meeting up in the most coincidental fashion ever. The story wraps up slowly, building in pace to nothing more than a motorcycle riding off on the horizon. As much as the plot guides the narrative, the story points to a move character-driven piece, examining motives and feelings and actions.
The film is beautifully shot, impressively acted (with Cooper outdoing his most recent Oscar-nominated performance in 'Silver Linings Playbook'), though I can't help but get lost in the script. As we see in one of the first shots of the film, Luke rides in a motorcycle cage, narrowly dodging the other 2 stunt performers. In many ways this could be interpreted as the plot, itself (which I'm sure is the case - how much more literal could they have made it?). But as exciting as the sight is, wouldn't it be more exciting to see a crash? We are tempted with the idea of a collision, but fail to be rewarded. This is not to say that I think the film required more action. On the contrary, the film succeeded on it's quiet notes and observational camerawork. Maybe the film needed a bit more cohesion: a movie with 3 parts that actually felt like part of a whole, not three short films hastily assembled together.
(Awards potential: Best Actor (Cooper), Best Supporting Actor (Gosling, Dane DeHaan), Best Supporting Actress (Mendes), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score)
