[Movie Babble] Sweeney Todd

So here comes a ton of babble concerning Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. I wrote it a while ago, but I never had a chance to post it anywhere. And now that I've watched it again... a few times... I thought I'd revisit it. It will be random, sometimes utterly fan-girl, and marginally incoherent. I promise rambling. But such are my thoughts, and of this movie there are many. So even if I complain or whine, I do it out of love. And off we go.

So, Sweeney Todd, then. A fantastic movie. One of the best I've seen in a theater all year. And that's not the twenty or so days that have passed since New Years, but rather since last January. That might be a lie, though, as I can very easily remember how much I enjoyed this one, while films I saw in the beginning of 2007 are all but lost to me. Oh well, I've said it now and I'll stick with it. Right. The movie itself.

It took an incredible amount of work, patience and begging to finally get to see this movie. I do not drive, and since I was home for winter break I was not within walking distance of a movie theater. I'll be buggered if I ever learn how the buses run, and even more so if I willing get on one. So I needed to secure myself a ride. But I'm not one to ask someone to drive me somewhere without asking them to accompany me, particularly a movie, and that's where my efforts were largely thwarted. No one in my house wanted to see this movie. No one. My mom, my usual ride, was off on a month long vacation to Portugal, so that was my second choice out of commission. She doesn't watch movies anyway. I did skip my first choice, but did so on purpose. My third choice was my Dad, and while he could have driven me he did not seem interested in watching the movie. I don't really enjoy watching flicks on my own, especially when I have the opportunity to watch them with my family, since I'm so often by myself at college. So I ask my brother, who was also home from school, and he said he had no interest in it. Foiled.

I haven't forgotten about my first choice. The way movies usually work in my house is like this: my twin and I decide on a movie, on a show time, and then ask Mom or Dad to give us a ride to the theater. I don't feel bad about asking rides from my parents then, because my twin's company makes it seem more worth the effort on their part. What with the joy their time and gas money will bring their favorite daughters and what not. My twin normally just rolls with whatever movie I want to see at the time, except on the rare occasion when... she doesn't. Like with Sweeney Todd.

I suppose it's fair to say that I have somewhat of an... obsessive personality. I say it's because I love too much, but people don't tend to agree with me. I love movies, and I love actors. I get a real kick out of plays, specifically musicals, being made into movies and I get excited by the prospect of my favorite actors reaching outside their regular boxes and taking risky roles. Like, say, ones that require them to sing and dance. Really, who doesn't enjoy that? Unfortunately, when I get overly excited about something I tend to talk about it. A lot. And this grinds me twin's nerves to the point where she refuses to indulge me, and begins to loathe, with a vehemence I think a bit unfair, whatever it is I'm so giddy about. I can't really blame her. I probably am guilty of doing the same thing, when the situation is flipped, but I just don't notice.

So that's what happened. I could not convince her to go with me, after somehow managing to spoil it for her. She asserted that she had no desire to see it, ever. And that was that. All hope was lost.

Until my hero arrived.

My friend Will offered to take me, with a general interest in seeing the movie himself and not just to placate me. And we had a wonderful time, because two actors seeing a movie together can never be bad. We had this joke that said seeing it together was the most fun we could possibly have, and seeing it again would not compare. I went back to college and none of the theatres around my campus were showing it, so I could not test that theory. Will, on the other hand, went to see it again fairly soon after we did. But I'm not bitter. Not anymore, at least. Sweeney Todd started playing up here last Friday, and I saw the very first showing. My friend from French last term, Tyler, was there. Since this time I knew all the songs, I couldn't help but want to sing them and Tyler, having seen the movie four times and also an owner of the soundtrack, had no objections. We ended up singing A Little Priest and it was pretty much hilarious. I mean, we sang through the other songs, but that one... that one was gloriously fun. If I had the chance, I'd definitely perform that song in some kind of showcase... or on a street corner. Anything, really. Just for the hell of being able to perform Mrs. Lovett's part. Will can be my Sweeney Todd, if he promises not to betray me anymore, now that we're even.

Anyway, all this back story is largely... irrelevant. But my blog is my journal, so I wanted to write it down.

Now it's time to get to my thoughts on the movie. I'll talk actor/director stuff first, then I'll talk character/story... maybe. I should probably talk about the songs, too. I'm not so good with planning things out. But despite everything I say, I do love this movie and think everything about it is wonderful. Good or bad, it's all awesome. I really love movies that get me thinking and analyzing and generally obsessive. This movie did a very good job of that, to be sure.

Where better to start than with Johnny Depp? He is, after all, the title character and, ultimately, the driving focus of most of the advertisements and plugs. I was surprised by how little depth the Demon Barber of Fleet Street seemed to have, particularly because I've seen Johnny Depp in roles with much less potential for characterization that he expertly breathed life into. It's difficult to pinpoint why this character, then, seems to fall so flat. Sweeney Todd is just a little too two-dimensional for my tastes, especially because the character himself reads so brilliantly complicated. There might have been too much focus on his... complete devotion to revenge, and not enough subtlety to the things around him.

Does that make any sense?

What I mean is, I understand that Todd is supposed to be giving his soul to this quest for revenge of his, but he never quite manages to connect with any of the characters around him enough to make the closing sequence, that ten minutes of climax at the end, seem as potent as it should have been. Sure, he got to stab Turpin, but when he realized how betrayed he was by Mrs. Lovett... I don't know, it wasn't as deep and cutting as it might have been. Should have been, in my opinion. Maybe I'm too picky. After I saw it the second time I did notice these little moments of connection, particularly between Todd and Lovett, that might have been enough to establish some deeper emotion between Todd and his new, broken family. Like when he puts his hand on her leg during By The Sea, even to take it away a moment later, or when they have a brief moment of looking into each other's eyes after she asks him what Lucy looks like, and before Anthony bursts in to, once again, ruin things.

But all this is not to say Johnny Depp did not do an amazing job. Because he did, really. It was a risky, difficult role and he attacked it with gusto and a healthy helping of pure talent. Even if he sort of... acts his way through his songs some times, to compensate for, you know, not being a Broadway singer. Which is fantastic, and as far as I'm concerned preferable, to belting and impossibly long notes. Plus, I know I just said Todd didn't have as much of a connection to anyone as I would have liked, but Johnny Depp's chemistry with Helena Bonham Carter is explosive, and really adds to their great comedic moments. The two are hilarious together, especially as these twisted, devilish and sinister characters.

Hey, that looks like a segue to me.

Helena Bonham Carter, then. Incredible. And surprisingly so. Let me briefly explain the process of 'need to see this movie' as it built up over some months. My best friend and I discovered that Sweeney Todd was being made. Sweet. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton? Awesome. Wait, now Alan Rickman is going to be in it? Gotta see it. Hey, look! It's out! Notice the extreme lack of concern for any other characters or actors. So I'm sitting there, having given Will a serious warning about the strange noises Alan Rickman would invariably draw from me each time he graced the screen, and something amazing happened. Mrs. Lovett was introduced, and I suddenly had a brand new reason to be excited about watching the movie. She was amazing. And nothing short of it. Just amazing. I thought she brought so much to the character of Mrs. Lovett, even if her vocal ability was not what might have been expected for the role. Maybe I'm completely biased now because I think her talent is unlimited, but I think she did a fantastic job with one of the hardest vocal roles in the whole show. And how about her comedic timing? Both in song and out, she had some really brilliant moments of delivery and blocking that made me laugh out loud.

I think Mrs. Lovett, to me, is a character much like Lady Macbeth. Even though the men that warrant the titles, Sweeney and Macbeth, are the focus of the show, it's the women that drive the action, and articulate the devious plans that eventually end in ruin. It's those women that have all the control, really, even if the men are more powerful. Lovett, in this case, is this devilish mind. She's smart, crafty, and particularly amoral. She defines her own laws of ethics and principals of conduct, and guiding Sweeney Todd carefully toward his goal while never missing an opportunity to bend the situation to her own whims. Her overarching goal is to be as close to Todd as possible, to draw him to her and hopefully develop the hopeless love she has for him into something more tangible. She states ever so plainly in 'Wait' that half the fun is, in fact, to plan the plan, and I think that line speaks volumes for her overall deception of Todd as far as his wife is concerned.

With that side trip into character-land done, it's time to return to actors. I mentioned Alan Rickman earlier, but I think it's time to bring him up again. He was great. That's... really not very fair to say, as he is always great and it's like pointing out that he's... a human, or something. It was fun watching him sing. Even if it was just two songs... but he was perfectly creepy as Turpin. Timothy Spall was just as perfect as Beadle Bamford. Really. Could anyone else have played him? In every scene Spall was in I could not help but feel slightly disconcerted, uncomfortable by the looming threat of him doing something creepy, gross or a grotesque mixture of both. Which was exactly what the character was there to do.

Who else was in this flick? Sacha Baron Cohen in what has to be one of the only roles... worth watching him in. And he's pretty damn good as Adolfo Pirelli. Er. David? Anyway. There were the two kids that played Anthony (Captain Interrupt-something-important) and Joanna (Mistress I'm-a-plot-device). But... they did not do anything to really capture my attention or in anyway distract me from the 'main' characters, so I opted to not care about them. Sure, they sing well, but something tells me they weren't the 'best' in the audition pack, and that was on purpose.

You know who almost stole the whole damn show? The little boy that played Tobey (Or... Toby. I guess.) Ed Sanders, as IMDB so graciously informs me. He was brilliant, in a charming, young kind of way. I'm not generally predisposed to enjoy the performances of children actors. This slight irritation with kids doubles when they have to sing, and I have to listen to it. But Ed was incredible. He really was. I fell in love with him about as hard as Mrs. Lovett did Tobey.

Tim Burton did a good job with this flick. How passively condescending is that? What I mean is, it was damn great, and it was hard to miss just who the director was. The opening sequence was similar to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Except... you were following unappetizing blood through the inner workings of chair, oven and sewer, rather than unappetizing chocolate through the inner workings of fantastical candy factory equipment. It was funny to hear/read so many reviewers saying the movie was gory. Sure, he slit throats and dead bodies rag-dolled down from the barber shop into the oven room, but the blood wasn't particularly realistic, was it? It was kind of silly, in a way, to see the different ways the blood escaped the body, depending on how important the character was. And also, those falling bodies? The first one in the second 'Joanna'... was pretty hilarious. Will called me a terrible person when I laughed each time a body hit the floor. He might be on to something with that one. My point is, I think people were taking the look of murder a bit too seriously, and missing the point of the act itself. You know, from a plot/character point of view.

And that's all I wrote. I have so much more to say, but I never finished this. I didn't even get into the characters, from the story itself, and how they were adapted and used. Oh well.