Beyond the Sea

Plot synopsis:
Rather than providing 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 determination to rise from his working class roots as Walden Robert Cassotto, a frail Bronx boy plagued by multiple bouts of rheumatic fever, and become a singer more famous than Frank Sinatra. To achieve that goal, he forms a band and struggles to find gigs at any nightclub that will hire him.
His agent gets Darin a recording contract with Atlantic Records, where the singer enjoys teen idol success with "Splish Splash". Not wanting to limit his appeal to rock and roll audiences, he changes his niche to big band singing and records major hits, such as "Mack the Knife." To capitalize on his popularity with teenage and young adult audiences, Darin is cast in Come September opposite Sandra Dee. He falls in love with the eighteen-year-old actress and, determined to marry her, he romantically seduces and enchants her with songs like "Beyond the Sea" and "Dream Lover." The two elope, angering her mother. Darin finally realizes his own mother's dream when he is signed to appear at the famed Copacabana nightclub in Manhattan.
As success takes him on the road and away from home, Dee begins to drink heavily, and the couple fights frequently. Eventually they separate, then reconcile. She gives birth to a son, Dodd. To his actress wife's chagrin, Darin is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a shell shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D..
In the late 1960s, Darin becomes involved in the campaign to elect Robert F. Kennedy for President and contemplates a political career of his own. His sister Nina, knowing his past will be investigated closely if Bobby 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 cannot identify.
Devastated, Darin becomes a recluse living in a trailer on the Big Sur coast in California. He 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, and against all odds it is a huge success.
But his triumph is short-lived. Suffering from blood poisoning following surgery to repair his mechanical heart valve, Darin is rushed to the hospital, where he dies at the age of thirty-seven. Following his death, he meets the younger counterpart of himself once again, and the two duet with "As Long As I'm Singing."

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
I'm mentioning this because I realize it's impossible for me to be completely objective about the movie, feeling about its subject as strongly as I do; I think that anyone who loved Bobby Darin cannot be thoroughly objective regarding Spacey's film.That having been said, I can tell you that I was profoundly affected by Beyond The Sea. Spacey lives up to his surname in spades with this project, by tossing out all the 'normal' bio-pic story-telling tools, instead resorting to a spaced-out show biz fantasy-type structure which does work because Bobby himself did use his career as an antidote against the reality of his ever-failing health and inevitable early death - his overwhelming drive and beyond-intense focus stemmed from the fact that he knew he had only so much time to do anything with his life; this is what made him so great on stage, and this immediacy and strength of purpose is conveyed brilliantly in the movie not through the usual talking and explaining sequences but rather through Darin's actions.
All untrue.The clever way in which he stages the film acknowledges the fact that he knows he's chronologically older than the perfect age to play this part, and he sings the songs himself because he CAN - his voice is more than serviceable; in fact when I saw the trailer for the first time a few months back and heard him singing Mack The Knife I was in the theatre telling the person I'd come with "That's Bobby, that can't possibly be Kevin Spacey" - this from a person who has listened to Darin's recording of that song literally hundreds and hundreds of times.The thing that is most interesting about the negative criticism is the one about this being a vanity project for Spacey; his desire and enthusiasm to share his feeling for Darin via this project is being interpreted as an ego trip, when in reality it's an unabashed and pure labor of love.
It's only in the close-ups that I was reminded it wasn't actually Bobby on the screen, and in the later scenes, when he becomes politically aware, grows the mustache and bills himself as Bob Darin, Spacey looks like him even in the close-ups.By the end of the film, I found myself feeling profoundly moved by what I was experiencing, even though, oddly enough, I didn't feel up to that point that the film was particularly profound, and so my reaction was very surprising to me.
-=-END OF POSSIBLE SPOILER I want to include this: the person I saw the film with hadn't been a fan of Bobby's the way I had for years, and I asked her after we'd left the theatre if she'd felt moved by what she'd experienced - I was trying to get a more objective idea how the movie would play to someone who wasn't so emotionally connected to the material.
She said that after seeing it, she wanted to know more about Bobby, how she'd had no idea what he'd gone through in his life and how she felt tremendous compassion and respect for him.Spacey has said that his motivation in doing the movie was to remind people who hardly remembered him what a monumental talent Bobby Darin was, and to hopefully introduce a new generation to the man.
I've been a big fan of Bobby Darin's music for decades, particularly his renditions of standards and I have to agree with Gene Shalit on this, Kevin Spacey nails as best he can, without plastic surgery the late great singer.
For the rest of us, "Beyond the Sea" is a delight.I read critics who said Kevin Spacey is too old to pull off a 20-something Bobby Darin.
His singing, acting, dancing were awesome, and it's a performance that should not be short-changed in this year's awards' season (although I fear it might be overlooked).Kate Blodgett, too, did a great job of portraying Sandra Dee (but I wish they had kept her hairstyles more true to Sandra Dee of the 1960's).My only disappointment is that so many important details about Bobby Darin's life were quickly glossed over or totally omitted.
It was quite obvious in the way this movie was written, acted, and so beautifully directed that Kevin Spacey really likes Bobby Darin.
If you can overcome what I can't, you will enjoy Beyond the Sea: Kevin Spacey is too old to play Bobby Darin, the 50's pop singer who died from long-term effects of rheumatic heart at 37.
As John Irving said in "My Movie Business" about the choice of actors, "Looks do count." Although others have criticized Beyond the Sea as a Spacey vanity project, I found his performance believable and engaging with style appropriate to the best lounge singers of the time (Sinatra included) and spot-on perfect for Darin, if not better than the original.
I've heard Spacey is touring with his band to promote this biopic; I'd go just to enjoy Spacey as a gifted singer.The only moments to get past the many Darin songs and into his life are those centering on the influence of his "mother" (Brenda Blethyn, "Secrets and Lies") and his marriage to Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth).
Spacey doesn't take himself as seriously as critics do (witness an early scene where in the framing device of Darin filming his own life, he is accused of being too old to play himself).The conjunction of subject and biographer is challenging at best.
Paul Murray Kendall in "The Art of Biography" says, "On the trail of another man, the biographer must put up with finding himself at every turn: any biography uneasily shelters an autobiography within it." In that sense, Beyond the Sea is as much about Kevin Spacey as it is Bonny Darin.This biopic ranks third next to Ray and De-Lovely; in another less-full year, it would be the best..
Beyond The Sea - the movie: It all kicks off when Bobby Darin (Spacey) enters the stage and sings "Mack The Knife".
I don't know anything about him and I don't want to know, because when I watch "Beyond The Sea" it's not Kevin Spacey I see - but Bobby Darin..
Watching Kevin Spacey's new film musical biography about the life of Bobby Darin, "Beyond the Sea", I couldn't help but think of the great film critic, Pauline Kael's assessment of Diana Ross in the film version of the 70's Black retelling of "The Wizard of Oz", "The Wiz".
But having directed as well as co-produced, co-written, starred and done all of his own singing, one cannot escape that "Beyond the Sea" is ultimately much about Spacey as it is Bobby Darin;in the same manner that "Citizen Kane" is about Orson Welles as William Randolph Heart or, a.k.a. Charles Foster Kane.
And both, clearly, know how to sing.Owing some stylish influence to Fosse's "All That Jazz" and even Coppola's "One From the Heart", "Beyond the Sea" shows off Spacey's strong grasp of cinematic story telling moving between surrealism and reality, and his even stronger vocalizing ability in sounding about as close to Darin as you could expect.
In the second, he portrays a rheumatic singer who defied doctors and male-pattern baldness to become a star.Although the film flicks back and forth between the two modes, they never gel as one seamless story, which is a problem for a biopic of a man whose life contained only a handful of interesting events.It doesn't help that Spacey's Darin interrupts the plot every so often by stepping back from the narrative and discussing the film with his younger self.
Beyond my wildest dreams did I think that respected actor Kevin Spacey had such a spectacular voice singing Bobby Darin songs in the Darin bio flick "Beyond The Sea".
Some people don't like it because: Yes, Kevin Spacey looks his age throughout the film, and is too young to play Bobby Darin in the first place, and, yes, not all of the film is factual.
Kevin Spacey might not be able to fool anyone that he is Bobby Darin, but he can sing and dance as well as anyone I've ever seen!
He had it all.Although some parts of the movie are a little strange like some of the random dance sequences, it it tied nicely together with the making of a movie and how he interacts with the memory of his childhood.What Spacey has given us is an enjoyable film that tells a story of a man once considered to be the greatest singer in the world.
The film has some wonderful moments, terrific musical numbers, an unrecognizable and very funny Greta Scacchi as Sandra Dee's mother, but it would have been such a great, intelligent move,on Mr Spacey's part to keep himself behind the camera and find the perfect Bobby Darin to nurture the legend.
The fact that "Beyond The Sea" is mostly a musical tribute rather than a traditional biography suggests a lack of substantive material on which to base a two hour movie.The film's complex structure is unusual, in that the adult Darin (Kevin Spacey) talks with himself as a child (William Ullrich) and the two of them, via flashbacks and fantasy, direct a movie about the adult's life.
"Beyond the Sea" is Kevin Spacey's musical biography of Bobby Darin's life.
Everyone should set aside some time to go see this movie, we spent a year helping Kevin make this film which he has truly put his heart and soul into, never have we worked with such a dedicated actor/director who has had so much passion for his project.
I left wanting to dig out my old Bobby Darin LPs. Once again, Kevin Spacey has proven what a talented, versatile entertainer he is and now what a wonderful director he is.
I like Kevin Spacey as an actor and he does a very good job of bringing out the person in the Darin character.
From the movie one would think that they never divorced, and that they were separated for only a brief period while Darin moved to an isolated spot and lived in a trailer in an effort to discover himself.I was shocked when I first heard that Kevin Spacey was going to play Bobby Darin.
The movie made me laugh and cry, but in such a way that it brought such a joy in knowing we were blessed to have known a talent as Bobby Darin and to know a talent as Kevin Spacey.
It's not merely that liberties are taken with the facts of Darin's life (standard in movies), that the narrative itself is hardly straightforward, or even that the film is almost all-Spacey, all the time (he sings!
Mr. Spacey would have been better off letting someone else direct the film, so he could concentrate on Bobby Darin."Beyond the Sea" feels, at time, like a soap opera where horrible revelations come out, as a matter of course.
As I sit here writing this on a Sunday afternoon, I am listening to the soundtrack of "Beyond the Sea, Kevin Spacey" sings Bobby Darin.
The song is "Once Upon a Time" and perhaps that is appropriate for this review.My short term memory is recalling the movie Agnes and I saw yesterday and how she reached across the armrest separating us and took my hand, the kiss we shared in the car following the movie, the "different" feel of each other last night, and an early morning dance in our bedroom this morning as we listened to Spacey and his version of the song "Beyond the Sea."Yes, Beyond the Sea was that kind of movie.My long term memory goes back those days in the '60's of first date, first kiss, embarrassing and awkward moments, the war, and so much more."Beyond the Sea" was that kind of movie.Even before this movie was released, the critics railed that Kevin Spacey past 40 was playing the part of a man whose successful period came in his mid 20's and that the film would probably not depict the true story of pop idol Bobby Darin.Spacey succinctly blew put them down in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
Kevin Spacey wrote, produced, directed, starred, danced, and sang his way through two decades of the life of a singer who wanted to be bigger than Frank Sinatra.Kate Boshert captured the essence of the time, innocent, naïve, and a young teenage boy's dream.Finally, I won't give away the ending but as you would expect a singer dying young in 1973, the movie would end on a somber note, butjust go see it.
Many of the initial scenes could have presented the audience with more facts, helping them to empathize, or at least care about who Bobby Darin was, what kind of life he led.Kate Bosworth looks cute, and is believable as Sandra Dee, a woman who probably was more enmeshed in Hollywood than she ever wanted to be.
I enjoyed the humor in the movie.At times, the age difference between Spacey and Bobby were too evident.I thought Kevin Spacey did a nice job, and his voice sounded good.I thought the way that they ended the film could be better and more dramatic.If you were a teen or young adult during this time, you should enjoy the movie.
I was concerned that Kevin Spacey was too old to play the young Bobby, but I was wrong, I felt that he did more than a passable job at capturing the essence of Darin at all ages.
I would have liked some original Bobby Darin recordings for the lead in to the movie and as the credits rolled, but Spacey did a great job with the vocals and I liked the concept with the young Bobby as part of the dying Bobby's imagination in how to film his life's story.
The performances of Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and the kid who plays Bobby Darin at a younger age are Oscar-Worthy.
Kevin Spacey, a purported major fan of Bobby Darin goes all the way on this one, he produces, directs, acts, sings and dances, all fairly competently.
Others come off even worse.From watching "Beyond the Sea" one learns a whole lot more about Kevin Spacey than one does about Bobby Darin.
It was only at the end credits, once Spacey had already won me over and I was ready to delve into Bobby Darin's music, that I learned all the roles he had taken on the movie; director, writer, producer, singer, dancer and actor.
Kevin Spacey is very good as Darin, and so is Kate Bosworth as Sandra Dee. The film is worth seeing because of the interesting subject but it lacks a script that could make it more meaningful.
It is still a remarkable film and captures what a wonderfully talented person he was.Forget the fact that Kevin Spacey was too old to play Darin - he made the film possible in the first place and I doubt if any other (younger) actor could have pulled it off AND sang all his own songs.
I remember watching "If A Man Answers" with Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee - as a child - and thinking now upon the man that played Darin in this film, I can see him side-by-side with the real Sandra Dee.I believe Kevin Spacey is a paradox - how else is he able to transcend the present and go so easily back into the past.
I have known that Kevin Spacey was an incredible actor and have enjoyed his performances thru the years, but, this movie has to be by far the best.Who knew that he possessed a voice like that?
I don't care what anyone says about Kevin Spacey being too old to play the part of Bobby Darin.
First, as much as we like Kevin Spacey, who could do a movie about bubblegum and be good, we were skeptical about him playing a real person with the talent of Bobby Darin.
I didn't know a thing about Bobby Darin and his music so his story and everything I saw in the movie was completely new for me.
For this reason I can't say anything how fair it was to real life of Bobby Darin and all my comments are about the movie as a piece of art and Spacey's work both as director and actor.To begin with I liked it, actually liked very much from beginning to the end.
Kevin Spacey was very good and almost seemed to be bobby Darin..
Kevin Spacey was very good and came close to sounding and acting like Bobby Darin.
In a season peppered with the introduction of Oscar-contender-worthy films, a real candidate in those difficult to measure categories of Class and Risk is at hand: "Beyond The Sea" is solid fare, a meritorious work that was brought to fruition by a man impassioned with the life of an American original.Bobby Darin may not have been the most important entertainer of his time, but Kevin Spacey (dancer, singer, actor and director) makes us realize how intriguing Mr. Darin's story really was, and in the telling demonstrates why Spacey's own talent and interest is uniquely showcased.
Fun Beyond the Sea. Yes, Kevin Spacey appears somewhat too old as the young Bobby Darin.
Just terrible - Kevin Spacey is way too old to be playing Bobby Darin - he could have at least hired some decent make-up artists to try to make him look younger.
The scenes with "Sandra Dee" were just nauseating - such an old guy with such a young girl, when in fact Bobby Darin was not that much older than Ms Dee. I had a hard time trying to watch the movie because Spacey's age was such a distraction.
Kevin Spacey plays a spot on Bobby Darin with amazing singing and dancing.
Anyone who doesn't think that Kevin Spacey can sing, I challenge you to watch this movie and then listen to some live Bobby Darin.
The last mistake director/writer/producer/star Kevin Spacey makes in the stylish (and empty) 'Beyond The Sea' is not to play one more Bobby Darin song during the end credits.
I was a big Bobby Darin fan and Kevin Spacey did him justice and treated his life story with respect.