Beyond the Sea (film)
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| Beyond the Sea | |
|---|---|
 Original poster |
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| Directed by | Kevin Spacey |
| Produced by | Andy Paterson Kevin Spacey Jan Fantl |
| Written by | Kevin Spacey Lewis Colick |
| Starring | Kevin Spacey Kate Bosworth John Goodman |
| Music by | Christopher Slaski (Original score) |
| Cinematography | Eduardo Serra |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Films |
| Release date(s) | December 29, 2004 (US) |
| Running time | 118 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Beyond the Sea is a 2004 biographical film directed by Kevin Spacey. The screenplay by Spacey and Lewis Colick is based on the life and career of singer/actor Bobby Darin.
Spacey, who produced the film with Andy Paterson and Jan Fantl and stars as Darin, had longed to produce a movie about him for years. With funding from Lions Gate Entertainment and Fantl's German production company QI Quality International GmbH & Co., his dream finally was fulfilled. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
Rather than provide a straightforward biography, the film weaves fantasy sequences with scenes containing somewhat fictionalized accounts of events in Darin's life, and throughout it, the adult singer interacts with his younger self. It chronicles his rise from his Bronx roots as Walden Robert Cassotto, a frail boy plagued by multiple bouts of rheumatic fever, to his chart success with the 1958 hit "Splish Splash", to his meeting with and subsequent marriage to actress Sandra Dee, to his Academy Award-nominated performance in Captain Newman, M.D. to his debut at New York City's premier nightclub, the Copacabana, thus fulfilling his mother's dream. As his success takes him on the road and away from home more frequently, Dee begins to drink heavily, and the couple fights frequently. Eventually they separate, then later reconcile.
When Darin becomes involved in the campaign to elect Robert F. Kennedy President of the United States of America and contemplates a political career of his own, his sister Nina, knowing his past will be investigated closely if he opts to enter the political arena, shocks him with the news his beloved mother actually was his grandmother and he is Nina's illegitimate child, the son of a father she can't identify.
Darin finds himself out-of-step with changing music trends, and when he tries to adapt by incorporating folk music and protest songs into his repertoire, he finds himself rejected by the audience that once embraced him. Undaunted, he stages a show, complete with a gospel choir, at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas showroom, and against all odds is a huge success. But his triumph is short-lived - suffering with blood poisoning following surgery to repair his mechanical heart valve, he's rushed to the hospital, where he dies at the age of 37.
[edit] Production notes
Kevin Spacey, who performed Darin's songs himself in the film, notes on the DVD commentary his biggest hope was that the film would reintroduce the singer's music to a new generation of fans. Shortly after the film's release, sales of his music increased by more than 150%, according to an interview with Spacey on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," June 22, 2006.[citation needed]
Although the film suggests Darin and Dee reunited and were close until his death, in reality they divorced in 1967. Darin was married a second time to another woman in late June of 1973. He divorced her in October of that year.
Most of the filming was done at Studio Babelsberg in Berlin, with some scenes filmed at the Rivoli Ballroom in London.
[edit] Principal cast
- Kevin Spacey ..... Bobby Darin
- Kate Bosworth ..... Sandra Dee
- John Goodman ..... Steve Blauner
- Bob Hoskins ..... Charlie Maffia
- Caroline Aaron ..... Nina Cassotto Maffia
- Brenda Blethyn ..... Polly Cassotto
- Greta Scacchi ..... Mary
- Peter Cincotti ..... Dick Behrke
- William Ullrich ..... Young Bobby Darin
[edit] Soundtrack list
- Hello Young Lovers
- Once Upon a Time
- Fabulous Places
- Simple Song of Freedom
- Mack the Knife
- Beyond the Sea
- By Myself/When Your Lover Has Gone
- Some of These Days
- Change
- If I Were a Carpenter
- Artificial Flowers
- That's All
- Dream Lover
- Splish Splash
- Lazy River
- Charade
- As Long As I'm Singing
- The Curtain Falls
[edit] Critical response
In his review in the New York Times, Stephen Holden observed, "The movie's a mess, and at 45, Mr. Spacey is far too old to play Darin. Yet the star captures his desperation, his braggadocio, and yes, his magnetism. As a hoofer, the actor isn't very limber, but his vocal impersonation of Darin goes beyond imitation. In the same way that Hugh Jackman portraying Peter Allen on the stage became the ur-Peter Allen, Mr. Spacey does Darin better than Darin . . . Many movies are hyperbolically touted as labors of love. But Beyond the Sea, with all its gaping faults, is the genuine article. It succeeds in being deeply and sincerely insincere." [1]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "The movie possesses genuine feeling because Spacey is there with Darin during all the steps of this journey, up and down, all the way into death . . . What I sensed above all in Beyond the Sea was Spacey's sympathy with and for Bobby Darin. There have been biopics inspired by less worthy motivations." [2]
In the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle called the film "one of the most embarrassing spectacles of 2004" and a "jaw-droppingly awful, a misbegotten and ill-conceived vanity project" and added, "[Darin] began his career as a teenager, and when he died at age 37, he didn't look a day over 30. Spacey, by contrast, is 45 and doesn't look a day over 47 . . . [he] sings the Darin songbook himself, and he's a good singer, in the sense that, on any given night, he'd probably win a karaoke contest. But Darin was a great singer, and on the signature songs - particularly the title track - the contrast is stark. Add to that the fact that Spacey lacks a singing star's charisma, and the whole exercise becomes pointless." [3]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone opined, "As director, Spacey can't stop the movie from groaning under the weight of biopic clichés. But the actor forges a bond with his subject that rights all wrongs. Doing his own singing (an uncanny imitation), Spacey is a marvel. He turns acting into riveting reincarnation and redoubles our appreciation of Darin, an underrated performer who used music to cheat death. Beyond the Sea, a tribute to both their talents, is one from the heart." [4]
In the Los Angeles Times, Carina Chocano felt, "Hindered by its own theatricality, Beyond the Sea feels at once hermetic, defensive and corny . . . Instead of pathos, [it] offers caramel-coated sentimentality." [5]
[edit] Nominations
Spacey was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy but lost to Jamie Foxx for Ray. He and Phil Ramone were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media but lost to the producers of Chicago. William Ullrich was nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Performer but lost to Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland.
