BethanyReview: Sweeney Todd (LINK)
April 2nd 2008 23:30
I am watching this for the first time (another movie I've never seen before!) and I'm not following my rule. Generally I don't watch a movie that I've heard a lot about, but- see, I have this thing. It's a Johnny Depp thing. And a musical thing. Put them together... anyway, so I've heard a lot. The most common complaint I have heard is that this movie has too much music. I've heard a few other things that I'm bearing in mind as I watch, which I'll address later.
Johnny Depp plays the eponymous Demon Barber, Sweeney Todd himself. Helena Bonham Carter is Sweeney Todd's tenant or landlord, I can't decide which, definitely his partner in crime. Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman plays The Bad Guy (Judge Turpin). Directed by Tim Burton- as if you didn't know.
The story is fairly well-known. Sweeney Todd (who was once Benjamin Barker) has been wronged in the past by the Judge (who else?), and wrongly imprisoned for years. He's back in Victorian-era London, searching for his daughter and teaming up with Mrs. Lovett (who works just below his Barber Shop and sells the worst meat pies in London) to rid London of it's hypocritical aristocracy.
I know there's been some talk about this being based on history, in some way or another, and I've been doing some research. There's one side that says 'yes, absolutely, plus or minus a few details' and another side that says 'what are they smoking?'. Both sides agree that Sweeney Todd was an English bogeyman, used to frighten children who didn't eat their vegetables I'm sure.
This website, from PBS, seems to take the middle ground. Apparently there's some evidence of a Parisian Barber doing something very similar, so go check it out for yourself.
Back to the movie:
Look out for the fairly graphic throat slashings, it's rated R for a reason, and how else would a barber kill someone? Also, if you liked Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, keep an eye for Anthony Head. He pops in and out, don't blink or you'll miss him.
As far as the singing goes, they all do a marvelous job. I've heard a few people suggest that this movie suffered from not having professional singers, but I disagree. This movie had some very difficult music to sing, lots of half-steps, some tricky harmony, some very discordant music to sing against, and I heard no false steps. I think that people are put off by the 'sing-song' quality of many of the songs, almost spoken word singing. The music is marvelous, based all off the original music for the stage I believe, and it's very upbeat sounding.
As to the other complaint I heard, the one about 'too much singing'- this is not a regular musical. A regular musical breaks into music about one subject- you don't have to listen to the lyrics closely to follow the movie. This movie is more akin to opera in that sense, you have to follow the music to know what's going on. If you can deal with subtitles without shooting yourself, I recommend them. I think this movie can be hard to follow without them, and on DVD the music goes from very loud to very quiet- which means you might be struggling to hear the lyrics, and that is vital to following the movie.
There is some very morbid and sick humor, some graphic violence combined with cheery and upbeat music. I'm accustomed to graphic violence, but the juxtaposition did cause me to jump a bit. It's very sudden, and I think that makes it feel more graphic than it might be. I like this movie, and I think that if you have a taste for the macabre than this is probably right up your alley.
As a final note: My mother told me that she didn't think it was much like a Burton movie, and I suppose if you're thinking of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" then no. This movie is much darker. By a lot (really). This is an R movie with very dark themes- previous movies were dark but had somewhat light themes.
Again, this movie is dark- it's sense of humor is black, it's themes blacker still. If you don't think you can handle that, don't watch it- this is definitely not a movie for everyone. If you aren't sure whether you'll like it or not, always rent. Better than wasting money on a movie you're not sure you'll like.
Johnny Depp plays the eponymous Demon Barber, Sweeney Todd himself. Helena Bonham Carter is Sweeney Todd's tenant or landlord, I can't decide which, definitely his partner in crime. Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman plays The Bad Guy (Judge Turpin). Directed by Tim Burton- as if you didn't know.
The story is fairly well-known. Sweeney Todd (who was once Benjamin Barker) has been wronged in the past by the Judge (who else?), and wrongly imprisoned for years. He's back in Victorian-era London, searching for his daughter and teaming up with Mrs. Lovett (who works just below his Barber Shop and sells the worst meat pies in London) to rid London of it's hypocritical aristocracy.
I know there's been some talk about this being based on history, in some way or another, and I've been doing some research. There's one side that says 'yes, absolutely, plus or minus a few details' and another side that says 'what are they smoking?'. Both sides agree that Sweeney Todd was an English bogeyman, used to frighten children who didn't eat their vegetables I'm sure.
This website, from PBS, seems to take the middle ground. Apparently there's some evidence of a Parisian Barber doing something very similar, so go check it out for yourself.
Back to the movie:
Look out for the fairly graphic throat slashings, it's rated R for a reason, and how else would a barber kill someone? Also, if you liked Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, keep an eye for Anthony Head. He pops in and out, don't blink or you'll miss him.
As far as the singing goes, they all do a marvelous job. I've heard a few people suggest that this movie suffered from not having professional singers, but I disagree. This movie had some very difficult music to sing, lots of half-steps, some tricky harmony, some very discordant music to sing against, and I heard no false steps. I think that people are put off by the 'sing-song' quality of many of the songs, almost spoken word singing. The music is marvelous, based all off the original music for the stage I believe, and it's very upbeat sounding.
As to the other complaint I heard, the one about 'too much singing'- this is not a regular musical. A regular musical breaks into music about one subject- you don't have to listen to the lyrics closely to follow the movie. This movie is more akin to opera in that sense, you have to follow the music to know what's going on. If you can deal with subtitles without shooting yourself, I recommend them. I think this movie can be hard to follow without them, and on DVD the music goes from very loud to very quiet- which means you might be struggling to hear the lyrics, and that is vital to following the movie.
There is some very morbid and sick humor, some graphic violence combined with cheery and upbeat music. I'm accustomed to graphic violence, but the juxtaposition did cause me to jump a bit. It's very sudden, and I think that makes it feel more graphic than it might be. I like this movie, and I think that if you have a taste for the macabre than this is probably right up your alley.
As a final note: My mother told me that she didn't think it was much like a Burton movie, and I suppose if you're thinking of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" then no. This movie is much darker. By a lot (really). This is an R movie with very dark themes- previous movies were dark but had somewhat light themes.
Again, this movie is dark- it's sense of humor is black, it's themes blacker still. If you don't think you can handle that, don't watch it- this is definitely not a movie for everyone. If you aren't sure whether you'll like it or not, always rent. Better than wasting money on a movie you're not sure you'll like.
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