Spacey gives icon the idol treatment
PEGGY ROGERS
Kevin Spacey’s newest movie, “Beyond the Sea,” is an ambitious
tribute to his childhood idol, Bobby Darin. Part musical, part
nightclub act and part dream, the film covers nearly three decades of
the multi-talented singer’s life.
For years, Spacey made it public knowledge that he wanted to play
the part of Darin in a movie. The actor made his dream come true by
co-writing, co-producing and directing “Beyond The Sea.” Although the
quasi-biographical film is about Darin, it’s has as much to do with
Spacey, which both adds to and detracts from the film.
“Beyond The Sea” opens on Darin’s upbringing, which gave him the
dream and talent to pursue a successful career in music. His
childhood is a central factor throughout the singer’s life and is
revisited throughout the course of the movie. The flashbacks
introduce a dream-like quality to the story with the adult Darin
meeting with, and talking to, his younger self.
The flashbacks are a creative way to remind the audience that
Darin’s upbringing deeply affected all his life. However, the
fictional trips to the past have a way of stopping the story’s
natural forward progression.
There are musical numbers and nightclub performances spread
throughout the film that also interrupt the natural flow of the
story. For example, the segments when a 20-something Darin sets out
to become famous, as well as his courtship of Sandra Dee, involve the
cast of characters breaking into song and dance. The effect is like
switching movie theaters between a musical and a drama.
The musical numbers serve to showcase Spacey’s talents more than
Darin’s. The actor does sing and dance very well. Rather than lip
sync, Spacey performs all of Darin’s hit songs, including “Mack The
Knife,” “Splish Splash” and “Beyond The Sea.”
As talented as Spacey is, the effect is similar to watching an
Elvis impersonator perform. After a while, you want to see or hear
the actual person’s voice. The nightclub performances that appear in
the film, while entertaining, become repetitive quickly because they
all have an identical quality to them -- Darin standing in front of a
microphone, wearing a tux and singing to the audience.
Toward the end of the film, however, the performances become fresh
again after Darin has to reinvent himself, his wardrobe and his act
to adapt to changing times.
Darin’s life is all about performing live in front of people and
“Beyond the Sea” stays true to that aspect. Viewers get a sense that
he was really living only when he was on stage.
The movie also delves into his successful, but short-lived
award-winning movie career. Ultimately, acting never brought the same
joy to Darin as music did, although it did introduce him to the love
of his life and future wife, Sandra Dee. The ups and downs of their
relationship are covered, albeit briefly, but there is the strong
sense from the movie that they were deeply in love with each other.
Spacey’s adoration and deep respect for Darin is evident every
moment of his performance. And a brave performance at that. Spacey is
in his 40s, and playing a mid-20s Darin requires a suspension of
disbelief by the audience. Even though all the other characters
undergo changes in make-up to distinguish between their younger and
older selves, Spacey doesn’t, beyond changing hairpieces.
At times, the effect is one of pretending instead of acting, as
when watching the much older Spacey belt out “Splish Splash,”
released when Darin was in his 20s, with teenage girls screaming and
fawning at his feet. The scene stretches the audience’s imagination
in a way that would not have been necessary if Spacey could have made
this film at least 10 years earlier.
“Beyond the Sea” is half a movie and half a tribute from an
adoring fan that reveals the joys and disappoints of an extremely
talented performer.
* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and
documentaries.
‘Elektra’ caught between two realities
The surprising problem with a lot of comic book movies is that the
stories actually have less substance and character development than
their source material. The newest Marvel comic book movie, “Elektra,”
acts like it wants to avoid this trap, but it isn’t quite sure.
It wants to show us a superhero with human vulnerabilities, but it
also wants to be a mindless action thriller that substitutes special
effects for real drama. The final result is a forgettable movie that
never really knows where it is going.
The main story in “Elektra” follows the title character (Jennifer
Garner) as she pursues her job as a paid assassin. Elektra died at
the end of the movie “Daredevil,” but has been brought back from the
dead to do a sequel. We’re never really given a lot of details about
why the people she kills are bad; we just assume they are bad because
they wear black and she kills them.
Elektra’s life changes when she’s asked to kill a man and his
daughter (Goran Visnjic of TV’s “ER,” and Kirsten Prout). As a young
girl, Elektra was traumatized when she saw her mother’s murder. As an
adult, she’s trying to heal her wounded inner child by working as a
contract killer, but she sees her own pain in eyes of the little girl
and that sends her world into a tailspin. She decides she can’t kill
the girl or her father, so she opts to protect them instead. This
means she has to fight a host of assassins who say inane things like,
“Stop! This time we finish it!”
Anytime you hear a character in a movie say, “This time we finish
it,” take that as a cue to leave the theater as quickly as possible.
If it weren’t for Garner’s ample charisma, “Elektra” would have
absolutely nothing going for it. What’s interesting is that “Elektra”
seems to shy away from making Garner’s sexy fetish outfit the focus
of the movie. Contrary to the previews, she doesn’t spend the entire
movie running around in her bright red lingerie.
Instead, the movie looks deep into Garner’s eyes as she tries to
forgive herself for being a helpless little girl who allowed her
mother to die. I really like how the story shows the emotional
conflict of Garner feeling like a terrified little girl in the body
of an adult woman. It’s just too bad that the main story about
defending the girl and her father isn’t written as well as the
back-story.
Another problem is that the action sequences are often poorly
executed. I like the character named Tattoo, and the way various
creatures leap out from his body and come to life. It’s just too bad
the movie tells me absolutely nothing about this guy or the rest of
the CGI-animated villains. We know that they are evil, but we don’t
know who they are or how they became what they are.
The fights themselves are slow and unimpressive. There’s nothing
in here that matches the athleticism or grace of “Hero” or “House of
Flying Daggers.” Comparing Elektra to either of those movies is like
comparing a high school production of “Hamlet” to the Royal
Shakespeare Company.
At best, “Elektra” is a rental. My guess is that this will be on
cable by St. Patrick’s day, and my suggestion is that you wait a
couple of months and watch it then. This is better than the usual
stuff they target toward 11 to 14 year olds, but it’s not something
that mom and dad will find terribly entertaining.
* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.
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