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Category:    Home > Reviews > Biography > Biopic > Musical > Beyond The Sea (2004/Lionsgate DVD)

Beyond The Sea (2004/Lionsgate DVD)

 

Picture: B-     Film: B-     Extras: B-     Film: B-

 

 

We have looked at several DVDs with performances by the real Bobby Darin, so when the time came to look at Kevin Spacey’s long-planned film on Darin, we knew Beyond The Sea (2004) would be something interesting.  What Spacey did was co-write, direct and star in the film as Darin, combining the biopic with the Backstage Musical.  The result is better than expected, though the device of flashback and the preteen Bobby talking to the soon-to-be-dead Bobby was a miscalculation.

 

However, the fact that Spacey took so many risks is half the fun and then dared to play him at every age he could.  It is a strain to suspend disbelief when he covers him in younger years, but he sticks with the story and is trying to ultimately convey that Darin is one of the great lost talents of the 20th Century in music.  In this, he does succeed more than the critics have given him credit for, but maybe if he loaded the script with more about the music and its influence, it would have hit the mark a bit more.  As it stands, Spacey beats the biopic formula and makes a personal comeback after The Life Of David Gale was the nadir of virtually all involved.

 

Kate Bosworth is good as Sandra Dee, joined by John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Great Scacchi and a good supporting cast.  There is even a hilarious moment where an unknown actress shows up as Angie Dickinson, getting a word in from a distance.  The film has many interesting moments, some of which may just be happy accidents, but it is primarily because Spacey cared and that is why Beyond The Sea is worth your time.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot in Super 35 by Eduardo Serra, A.S.C., A.F.C., which brings back the classical look of Hollywood filmmaking.  It may not go out on a limb like the also-underrated Down With Love (reviewed elsewhere on this site), but has some detail limits that are a combination of the way it was shot and the transfer being softer than it should be.  The color is somewhat inconsistent.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds is fair, while the Dolby 5.1 is a bit harsh and shrill for a new recording.  A DTS track like Lion’s Gate just included on the Spacey film Swimming With Sharks (also elsewhere on this site) might have helped, but the songs are also too loud versus the dialogue parts.  The combination is somewhat awkward, but is still watchable enough.

 

Extras include trailers for this and a few other Lionsgate titles, a featurette that runs about 17 minutes and a commentary by Spacey and producer Andy Paterson that discusses what it took to make the film.  Spacey did his own singing, which was not bad, but it also points to the need for having Darin’s music restored and reissued.  Maybe some SACDs or DVD-Audios would be in order.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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