I'm surprised at all the negativity here. Watched it last night and fell in love with it. Actually I think I like this even more than Blue Valentine. It's unusual to see a movie with a story meandering over such a long time, going over generations. I went in pretty much blind, which also added to the experience.
Nice pacing, wonderful choices of music and above all brilliant acting, so very natural that I had to remind myself afterwards that it was actors, not real life characters, that I just had watched. I haven't written a review yet, but I expect it to end up pretty high on my top list in the end of the year.
My 19 year old loved it as much as I did, and I assure you, it was NOT just because of Gosling. The movie sparked a great conversation on our way home about heritage vs environment