Beyond The Sea

Beyond the Sea is a loving tribute to Bobby Darin. That is both the film’s biggest strength and its biggest weakness. With every frame, director and actor Kevin Spacey brings a joyful enthusiasm to this biopic. There are songs, lavish dance numbers, surreal visuals, and tons of heartwarming moments. Spacey does all but juggle flaming knives to make this life story entertaining, but by the end of the film I knew very little about Bobby Darin.

Sure, the film includes all of Darin’s major life events including his rise to fame and his marriage to Sandra Dee, but Spacey never explores the darker elements of the story. He shows them, but keeps everything neat and tidy on a surface level. This problem constantly plagues the Sandra Dee scenes. She is seen developing a drinking problem and the couple is shown at odds, but there’s a fairy tale reality to the relationship. Things never seem that bad. During one brutal conflict when their fighting finally seems to spiral out of control, the scene turns around and shows the couple reconciling immediately. Spacey is afraid to make Darin look like anything other than a legend. Even when he abandons his family, Spacey twists it to show that Bobby Darin just needed time away to develop his artistic sensibilities.

Beyond the Sea doesn’t work dramatically, but it has some exhilarating musical numbers. These moments keep the film floating and the real star of the movie is Darin’s music, which is still catchy after all these years. Spacey wisely chooses to include as many songs as possible and the flashiness almost works to cover over the dramatic weaknesses.

The picture quality is very good, cleanly capturing the colourful cinematography. I especially enjoyed the audio which kicks in during the big musical numbers, enveloping the viewer with its rich sound. It’s crisp and clear throughout the entire film. The special features are adequate. There’s an audio commentary with Kevin Spacey and his producer which is alright. Spacey is a tad too monotone for my liking, but he provides some nice tidbits on Bobby Darin’s life that fill in some of the gaps left by the movie. A making of featurette doesn’t really provide too much depth into the making of the movie. There are a couple of interesting facts, but it’s not one of the better behind-the-scenes docs.