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| Beyond the Sea
Directed By: Kevin Spacey Plot
Summary - Review 1 - Review
2 - CURRENT REVIEWS
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| For Bobby Darin, performing was his life. It kept his heart beating. He came alive onstage, even when he was near collapse offstage. From the age of seven, Walden Robert Cassotto.. Little Bobby knows the odds are stacked against him. Rheumatic fever has permanently damaged his heart, and he's not expected to make it to age fifteen. Bobby's family pour all their energies into caring for him. Bobby's frail heart may be one truth, but his mother Polly, a former singer, introduces her boy to another wonderful truth: music. Music becomes Bobby's bargaining chip against time.. he's not only singing, but also playing piano, drums and guitar before he even hits his teens. Music takes him into a world beyond the Bronx, and beyond sickness. It's a world of effortlessly swinging songs, and couples dancing to the lilt of Bobby's voice. Bobby has a plan, and no heart ailment will stop him. [TRAILER] “Beyond The Sea” is oozing with showmanship, emerging as a spectacle that is far more interesting in form than actual substance. Enjoyable here is not really the story itself, although it is surely a story worth telling, but rather the way that star and director Kevin Spacey is determined to tell us just who Bobby Darin was and continues to be. Darin is known by most as the artist who sang “Splish Splash” and “Mack The Knife,” as a lesser-known cultural icon a few steps down from Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett. Kevin Spacey plays him as a ruthlessly committed showman, a creature of the nightclubs who used his rise in popular fame as a springboard for a more respectable career. More interesting, however, is how Spacey goes about crafting this Darin-centric universe. A dazzling opening sequence grinds to a halt, and we are suddenly aware of a post-modern twist to this biopic – that Spacey, as Darin, is in the process of making a movie about Darin; that we are watching a movie about the making of a movie. And through the remainder of the work, Spacey is accompanied by William Ullrich, a younger version of Darin, who repeatedly pops up in sporadic scenes and music sequences. Together, they represent the two sides of this musical icon: Spacey as Darin the legend, and Ullrich as the spirit of the real Darin - the Darin that existed when the spotlight was turned off. Spacey, as director, almost handles this approach perfectly. Unlike other biopics this season, such as “Ray,” “The Aviator,” or “Kinsey,” “Beyond the Sea’s” self-awareness is to its benefit, allowing the characters to be reflective in a way that most films could never attempt. By the film’s closing sequence, when Ullrich criticizes Spacey, admonishing him that this is not the way the story ends, “Sea” hits unpredictable notes of nostalgia and celebration that could never exist in a literal telling. Spacey has been busy promoting his film, and clearly he has invested quite a bit of himself into the role. Singing Darin’s songs, dancing center in a number of incredible, intricate dance sequences, all while serving as the film’s producer and director, “Beyond the Sea” marks Spacey’s strongest movie role since his Oscar-winning turn in “American Beauty” some five years ago. And it is not an easy role at that, requiring him to embody the Grammy-winning sensation, the washed-up hippy, and everything in between. The film loses its footing when it becomes a bit too literal and preachy. Night clubs replaced by discos and jazz standards replaced by rock-and-roll, Darin suddenly finds himself without an identity. Slowly losing sight of his dreams, and having already accomplished everything that would have made his mother proud, a family secret sends Darin into seclusion, where he starts to obsess over politics and the Vietnam War. It is not wrong for the film to spend time here, but suddenly the energy, life and showmanship that has brought “Sea” this far disappears, and we’re left with a series of emotional peaks that amount to four or five climaxes. The film becomes overdone, and quickly overstays its welcome. This fact is unfortunate, and a bit surprising since Spacey so often finds just the right pitch of energy, charisma and enthusiasm to help this story take flight. After all, as Ullrich and Spacey come to understand in the film’s final scene, this is not the movie of Darin’s life but of Darin’s legend, and the film’s numerous fantasy sequences and performances hit that nail on the head. By any account, it’s a warm, exuberant and fitting tribute.  Check out Reviews, Commentary, and More at Zertinet.com |
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