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Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines.

A sweeping, bold and admirably ambitious crime movie triptych, which almost compensates for its occasional overreaching with sheer bravado and fully committed performances. Ryan Gosling opens the spectacle as Luke, an iconically cool and laconic trick motorcycle racer who takes to crime to support a baby he didn't know he had. We're then introduced to Avery (Bradley Cooper), a go-getting young cop eager to make his bones by bringing the hot dog in. That's all you should really know for now: The movie performs a couple of switchbacks that are as impressive as Luke's riding, and before you even know it, Cianfrance has made a movie about the intergenerational DNA of bad blood.

Sept. 8, 11:00 p.m., Ryerson Theatre.

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