Scan and Pan
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is a barber convicted of a crime he didn't commit by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who covets Barker's beautiful wife (Laura Michelle Kelly). Fifteen years after being deported to a penal colony, Barker returns under the pseudonym of Sweeney Todd to take his revenge. His landlady, the pie-making Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) tells him that his wife took poison and he also discovers that his now teenaged daughter (Jayne Wisener) is Turpin's ward. Twisted by anger and despair, Todd returns to barbering with a wicked twist: he murders his clients and allows the adoring Mrs. Lovett to use their bodies as the main ingredient in her meat pies.
It's the kind of opulently gothic story that director Tim Burton (Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has running through his veins, and it's hard to imagine another director being as successful at transforming it from the stage to a sumptuous cinematic feast. From the ominous notes of an organ over the studio logos at the beginning to the final shot of Sweeney Todd, it's an exhilarating journey through the macabre that represents Burton at his best, a film that's at once tragic and wickedly funny. Burton approaches the material as if he was directing a performance at the Grand Guignol, with multiple throat slashings spewing blood on everything from the characters to the camera lens. The first time Todd draws blood brings a genuine sense of shock to the audience. In many ways, Burton has made something more gruesome than any recent outright horror film even as it's highly stylized.
Screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) streamlines the stage version's book by Wheeler from three hours to a two hour film without losing its essence. One might have wanted more scenes between Todd's daughter and her sailor suitor to remain in the production to better flesh out those characters and their relationship, but I think that's a minor quibble. The deletions usually work to the film's advantage because they allow an even greater focus on Sweeney Todd's obsession.
Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (The Crow and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy) uses low lighting and desaturated colors to suggest a grey world where there are no happy endings, but adds glorious colors to the "By the Sea" sequence. Production designer Dante Ferretti (Interview with the Vampire, Gangs of New York) creates a vividly drawn Victorian-era London of dark alleys, old buildings, and belching smokestacks, while costumer designer Colleen Atwood (Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow) provides a gothic touch to the wardrobe.
Most of Sondheim's great songs are here, transformed by music producer Mike Higham and original stage orchestrator Jonathan Tunick into versions that fit seamlessly into what Burton is trying to accomplish. Some of them are abbreviated, but all of them display a rich sonic palette because a much larger orchestra was used than the stage version had available.
In his sixth collaboration with director Burton (their first was 1990's Edward Scissorhands), Depp is simply magnificent as the vengeance obsessed title character. He stalks the screen with a deranged gleam in his eye, but the biggest surprise is that he's up to the task of singing Sondheim's songs, which he delivers with a snarling rage in his voice. Bonham Carter displays splendid comic timing as Mrs. Lovett and has good chemistry with Depp's Todd, which offsets her adequate but sometimes thin singing voice. Rickman is perfectly cast as a man who uses his power as a judge for his own corrupt purposes, while Timothy Spall puts his comedic skills to good use as the judge's obsequious henchman.
Sacha Baron Cohen is gleefully flamboyant as the Italian barber and snake oil salesman Pirelli who engages in a public duel of barbering with Todd. Ed Sanders is a find as Pirelli's abused boy servant who finds his way into the employ of Mrs. Lovett. Young Irish actress-singer Wisener is like a precious doll as Todd's daughter, Johanna. Jamie Campbell Bower looks too pretty to be a sailor man, but he brings just the right amount of romantic yearning to his role. Kelly previously played Mrs. Barker on stage, and although her performance here is small, it's a polished one. Although Anthony Stewart Head's character of a victim turned ghostly narrator was removed from the film, he appears to still have a blink and you'll miss it cameo.
As the latest collaboration of director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is bloody good fun in all the right ways.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
The award-winning stage musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler arrives on the screen as part of a recent renaissance of film musicals (including Hairspray and Across the Universe), and it's a marvelously twisted tale of obsession and revenge put forth with great style.
Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is a barber convicted of a crime he didn't commit by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who covets Barker's beautiful wife (Laura Michelle Kelly). Fifteen years after being deported to a penal colony, Barker returns under the pseudonym of Sweeney Todd to take his revenge. His landlady, the pie-making Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) tells him that his wife took poison and he also discovers that his now teenaged daughter (Jayne Wisener) is Turpin's ward. Twisted by anger and despair, Todd returns to barbering with a wicked twist: he murders his clients and allows the adoring Mrs. Lovett to use their bodies as the main ingredient in her meat pies.
It's the kind of opulently gothic story that director Tim Burton (Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has running through his veins, and it's hard to imagine another director being as successful at transforming it from the stage to a sumptuous cinematic feast. From the ominous notes of an organ over the studio logos at the beginning to the final shot of Sweeney Todd, it's an exhilarating journey through the macabre that represents Burton at his best, a film that's at once tragic and wickedly funny. Burton approaches the material as if he was directing a performance at the Grand Guignol, with multiple throat slashings spewing blood on everything from the characters to the camera lens. The first time Todd draws blood brings a genuine sense of shock to the audience. In many ways, Burton has made something more gruesome than any recent outright horror film even as it's highly stylized.
Screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) streamlines the stage version's book by Wheeler from three hours to a two hour film without losing its essence. One might have wanted more scenes between Todd's daughter and her sailor suitor to remain in the production to better flesh out those characters and their relationship, but I think that's a minor quibble. The deletions usually work to the film's advantage because they allow an even greater focus on Sweeney Todd's obsession.
Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (The Crow and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy) uses low lighting and desaturated colors to suggest a grey world where there are no happy endings, but adds glorious colors to the "By the Sea" sequence. Production designer Dante Ferretti (Interview with the Vampire, Gangs of New York) creates a vividly drawn Victorian-era London of dark alleys, old buildings, and belching smokestacks, while costumer designer Colleen Atwood (Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow) provides a gothic touch to the wardrobe.
Most of Sondheim's great songs are here, transformed by music producer Mike Higham and original stage orchestrator Jonathan Tunick into versions that fit seamlessly into what Burton is trying to accomplish. Some of them are abbreviated, but all of them display a rich sonic palette because a much larger orchestra was used than the stage version had available.
In his sixth collaboration with director Burton (their first was 1990's Edward Scissorhands), Depp is simply magnificent as the vengeance obsessed title character. He stalks the screen with a deranged gleam in his eye, but the biggest surprise is that he's up to the task of singing Sondheim's songs, which he delivers with a snarling rage in his voice. Bonham Carter displays splendid comic timing as Mrs. Lovett and has good chemistry with Depp's Todd, which offsets her adequate but sometimes thin singing voice. Rickman is perfectly cast as a man who uses his power as a judge for his own corrupt purposes, while Timothy Spall puts his comedic skills to good use as the judge's obsequious henchman.
Sacha Baron Cohen is gleefully flamboyant as the Italian barber and snake oil salesman Pirelli who engages in a public duel of barbering with Todd. Ed Sanders is a find as Pirelli's abused boy servant who finds his way into the employ of Mrs. Lovett. Young Irish actress-singer Wisener is like a precious doll as Todd's daughter, Johanna. Jamie Campbell Bower looks too pretty to be a sailor man, but he brings just the right amount of romantic yearning to his role. Kelly previously played Mrs. Barker on stage, and although her performance here is small, it's a polished one. Although Anthony Stewart Head's character of a victim turned ghostly narrator was removed from the film, he appears to still have a blink and you'll miss it cameo.
As the latest collaboration of director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is bloody good fun in all the right ways.
[4.5 out of 5 stars]
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