Tad Friend: Derek Cianfrance: The New Yorker In Derek Cianfrance's films, men get punched by men and scorned by women, but they hurt women only inadvertently. With "Blue Valentine" and "The Place Beyond the Pines," which opens this month, the director says that he's exploring "a new American male persona" - one with the body of Ryan Gosling and the values of Derek Cianfrance. Or, perhaps, vice versa. . . .