CS Daily Archive > Weekend Read > 12/31/04

Darin' to Raise the Bar on Biopics

By jeff goldsmith

Kevin Spacey's ten-year quest to bring Bobby Darin's life to screen culminates with the actor-director-co- writer elevating the biopic genre to a higher level than its typical "cradle-to-grave" fare with an engrossing story (with a touch of Fellini, even) focusing on the question of identity.

Beyond the Sea

Kevin Spacey (also directed) and Lewis Colick

Beyond The Sea centers itself around the life and times of singing sensation Bobby Darin and his rise to fame. Originally born Walden Robert Cassotto (with Darin as a stage name), Darin seemed to find success easily but had a heck of a tough time finding himself. Dramatically the film centers on an identity crisis concerning the truth as to who Darin really is and where he comes from. While such material under lesser hands may have been too pedestrian to be regarded as both entertaining and dramatically valid, Spacey and co-writer Lewis Colick (October Sky) managed to find a near perfect balance in which as the audience becomes familiar with Darin's music and Darin as a character, they too hope to uncover the truth behind Darin's past.

It's Spacey's inherent understanding of character mechanics that led him to pursue telling Bobby Darin's life story, and that's why it's not surprising to find that a two-time Academy Award-winning actor has now taken masterful control of the medium as both the storyteller and the avatar through which the story flows. Starring in, directing, and producing films were already a part of Spacey's career, but for this film he finally entered the realm of authorship by collaborating as a screenwriter with Colick.

Spacey and Colick also did an excellent job of thematically reinforcing the film's identity crisis via Darin's wearing of wigs. Throughout the film, Darin becomes annoyed as he loses his hair and is forced to begin wearing wigs in order to keep his fans loyal. This recurs until Darin discards his wig, fully knowing his audience may not be able to accept him for who he really is. But he's decided to stop living a lie. It's here that Spacey and Colick unlock the door to Darin's past, as his character now seems ready to accept the truth. The truth and the consequences of Darin recognizing the truth work well as the film's crisis and nicely take over the film's third act.

Spacey and Colick's greatest feat was that of adding a nonlinear surrealist structure to their film and thereby elevating the biopic genre beyond its more familiar terrain. The experiment worked excellently as we see a self-reflexive tale unfolds whereby Darin is directing his own biopic, aided by the spirit of his youth at his side. It's very Fellini inspired, and Spacey (a student of Fellini's work) did the master right by reaching a perfect balance of biopic information blended with pure surrealism.

Beyond The Sea works as an entertaining biopic while at the same time dipping into the finer waters and experimental boundaries of surrealist, nonlinear storytelling. It's an all-ages film that encompasses the onscreen entertainment values of a bygone era while at the same time adding a layer of depth that supersedes where the genre usually resides.

Beyond the Sea
Lions Gate Films
Rated PG-13; 121 min.

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Jeff Goldsmith is a regular columnist for Creative Screenwritig magazine and serves as the Los Angeles Events Coordinator in charge of the Creative Screenwriting screening series.

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