Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper both excel in this multi-layered American epic tackling the legacy of fatherhood
The film opens upon the torso of Ryan Gosling, a headless shot in which the camera shows his pumped muscles rippling beneath a mass of indigo tattoos as he prepares to ride his motorbike in a fairground stunt show. The tattoos are clues to an unexplained past. A helter-skelter cascades down his back; the Bible blackens one hand; as we are to discover, a tiny dagger drips a tear of blood on his face. Crimes and misdemeanors are written on his body; perhaps there will be more.
We learn the character’s name, Luke, only much later. Like Gosling’s previous incarnation