GO: CINEMA: KEVIN'S SCREEN SPLISH SPLASH.Byline: Damon Smith Beyond the Sea (12A) STARS: Kevin Spacey spac·ey adj. Slang Variant of spacy. Adj. 1. spacey - stupefied by (or as if by) some narcotic drug spaced-out, spacy unconventional - not conventional or conformist; "unconventional life styles" , Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn DIRECTOR: Kevin Spacey BOBBY DARIN DARIN Display Attack and Ranging Inertial Navigation , born Walden Robert Cassotto, became a rock 'n' roll sensation in the 50s with swinging tunes including Dream Lover and Mack the Knife. Beyond The Sea, Spacey's second feature as director, traces the entertainer's career from a child growing up in the Bronx, to an adult (Spacey) whose success in the charts is tempered by a failing marriage to screen starlet star·let n. 1. A small star. 2. A young film actress publicized as a future star. starlet Noun a young actress who has the potential to become a star Noun 1. Sandra Dee (Bosworth). Darin's meteoric rise to fame is all the more remarkable because, at the age of seven, rheumatic fever rheumatic fever (r  măt`ĭk), systemic inflammatory disease, extremely variable in its manifestation, severity, duration, and aftereffects. permanently damaged his
heart.
The outlook is grim: doctors don't expect Bobby to live to the age of 15 so his family - mother Polly (Blethyn), older sister Nina and her husband Charlie (Hoskins) - devote every waking minute to his happiness. His mother introduces him to the joy of music, an escape from the harsh realities of his illness and life in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Miraculously, Bobby defies all of the medics. By 20, he is working on the nightclub circuit with his manager Steve Blauner (Goodman) and musical director Dick Behrke. The release of Splish Splash, a song written in just 20 minutes, sends Bobby's star skywards, and he consolidates his new-found fame with an album of standards. Leaving for Italy to make the film Come September, Bobby falls under the spell of move star Sandra Dee and they are subsequently married, to the intense displeasure of her controlling mother. Success in the charts and on the big screen, including an Academy Award nomination, puts a strain on the marriage. The relationship dissolves and, in the late 60s, Bobby seeks a new direction in his life as a political activist, before returning to Vegas to exorcise the demons of his past. Spacey is sensational in the lead role, singing all of Darin's songs live, rather than lip-synching, and kicking up a storm in the energetic song and dance numbers. It's a virtuoso performance that almost single-handedly carries the film through two hours. Bosworth is solid enough, if unspectacular, and there is good support from Goodman and Hoskins. But every frame of the screen is charged with Spacey's magnetic presence. Beyond The Sea employs a framing device similar to De-Lovely, although it's not as clumsy or intrusive here, engineering a rousing finale. FILM RATING: 3 STARS CAPTION(S): SINGING SENSATION: Kevin Spacey as 50's rock 'n' roll star Bobby Darin and Kate Bosworth as his screen wife starlet Sandra Dee; VIRTUOSO PERFORMANCE: Kevin Spacey put in a sensational performance as Bobby Darin in Beyond the Sea (12A), singing all of Darin's songs live |
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