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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Sweeney Todd

14:06 / 20.01.08

Loved this adaptaion of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. Burton has really gone to town to create a dark, atmospheric and foreboding view of 19th century London,which still manages to be visually appealing.

Johnnny Depp provides us with a understated but unmistakeably unhinged Sweeney Todd, a sympathetic figure, but one who manages to scare and disturb throughout. His singing voice has already been compared to David Bowie - an obviously untrained cockney which moves slowly on long, high notes from a small sound into a rich resonance. Bonham Carter is splendid as Mrs Lovett, resigned, world weary, humourous, and somehow sexy. I'd always thought Todd and Lovett were too psychotic and amoral to be sexy, but somehow both Depp and Bonham Carter pull this off. Their physical similarity makes this coupling even more unsettling. As one Newsnight reviewer noted, "a bit like cousins who marry".

Cinema makes for greater fluidity than the viewer might enjoy in the theatre. In the beautiful duet 'My Friends', the chasm between the priorities of Lovett and Todd are caught perfectly, as she holds him tight. And Bonham Carter is possessed of a very good singing voice. Although I was familiar with the story before hand, this expositiion really tugged at my heart strings and I foind it to be very poignant. It's also at times, very funny. 'By the sea' deserves a special mention.

I don't have time to really do justice to the film in it's entirety. It will have to suffice to say I thought the casting must have been fairly close to perfection. Sondheim's lovers have in the past been criticised as soppy; here Anthony and Joanna have just about enough worldliness to absolve them of this charge as they look on at a corrupt city through starry eyes. I thought 'Green Finch and Linnet Bird' was the best singing performance of the film.

Hope you enjoy it.

18:10 / 20.01.08

I saw this last night, and wanted to start a thread on it, but didn't know if it would get any traction around here. I've never seen the stage version, but after seeing the movie, I'd like to. I thought that the perfomances of Depp and Bonham-Carter were great, better than I expected. Their voices were competent and pleasant enough, but left a little to be desired. The children had beautiful voices, by far the best. I'd like to see it on stage with actors with really good voices. It was visually absolutely Burtonesque, in the very best way, not too over-the-top or stylized, but full of character and texture, the sets were worked out to the fullest. Goddamn it was pretty bloody, though. Gushing.
The music was great, typical Sondheim— straight up earworm open melodies with a dark twist when you don't exactly expect it.While Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and Sasha Baron Cohen were all excellent in their caricature characters, Timothy Spall was especially effectively repugnant (I'm not sure why I'm writing like this, sorry). I did enjoy "By the Sea" also, and "Johanna", and "Green Finch and Linnett Bird", really all of it. Great music.
I suppose my only complaints would be the voices not being the greatest, and the story dragged a little in the middle. Still, it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie, definitely one to see in the theater on a big screen.

22:46 / 20.01.08

I heard the original cast recording from the 70s after seeing the film, and it was jarring to hear Mrs. Lovett sung in a more classical style. I've seen a lot of knocks on what Helena Bonham Carter did with the role, but I thought she owned it and the film, and her vocals had a lot more ragged emotion than the crisp broadway recording. She was singing in character, and even though it may not have been as aesthetically pleasing, it was perfect for the role.

23:45 / 20.01.08

I heard samples from that recording, and I'd have to agree. I think it's because of the acting within the singing, you know? What I was saying before about wanting to hear stronger voices should be qualified; I'd like to hear someone with the pipes sing it with as much emotional finesse as they did. But I shouldn't have said anything about the voices in the first place, I think they both ruled their roles, and they sang them well.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

01:18 / 21.01.08

I have so much time for Johnny Depp that even were he to make his singing debut in Police Academy 407 I'd probably pay to see it.

Glad to hear this may actually be worth the cash to boot!

21:26 / 21.01.08

His singing voice has already been compared to David Bowie - an obviously untrained cockney which moves slowly on long, high notes from a small sound into a rich resonance.

Depp's voice was okay, except when he did those long, soaring notes. That's when he got far too Barry Manilow for my liking. Other than that, it was a pretty good film.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

01:23 / 22.01.08

I enjoyed the film, but as a musical it left me wanting more--none of the songs really hooked me. I wasn't annoying my friends by singing the songs to myself afterwards, which is pretty standard for me.

Great atmosphere, though.

15:30 / 22.01.08

the voices not being the greatest

hmm... the combination of non-professional voices and film acting changed the characterisation from the stage, for me. ON stage sweeney has to convey his grief to hundreds with his voice, so he still comes across as quite emotional. Depp's Todd seemed beyond any emotion other than vengeful anger. And Mrs Lovett is very much the comic lead on the stage... here Bonham Carter made her as close to an emotionally well-balanced character as she's likely to come. Admittedly that's not that close.

Tuna: I never thought I'd see the play reach the silver screen because the songs aren't.... user-friendly for want of a better word. Love songs to razors.... hmm.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:49 / 30.01.08

Just got back from seeing it- I thought it was ace. The only really weak voice was Alan Rickman, but he was Alan fucking Rickman so it didn't matter, he was great anyway.

20:10 / 28.03.08

SPOILER (possibly HUUUUUUGE!)

I saw this last night, and I'm a bit confused. Were we not supposed to know the woman was his wife by her earlier appearances? I thought her throat-cutting scene was amazingly well-executed in the most chilling way (you knew it was coming, but it came as a surprise) for its matter of fact aspect. But I got the feeling at the end that it was supposed to be a "(gasp!) hoooly fuck" moment and I got totally lost.

I thought it was somewhat a bland film (as Depp's performance) that made me want to see the play badly. Although all parts with Bonham Carter was pure delight (ok, except for Toby singing with her; but really, what a lovely Raggedy Ann panda bear she can be, so ghastly tragic and sweet at the same time).

And with the exception to some moments at the beginning (Depp's introduction, the setting of the daughter with the sailor) the build up to the middle was pretty swell (I think it was the first time I truly enjoyed seeing Baron Cohen on screen). Rickman is always lovely, if not so properly used. His introduction as a bubbled man who perceives himself wisely cynical and experienced for his little alluring books was a well done hook that wasn't really taken anywhere or even properly connected to the rest of his character in a more incisive way than your usual caricature of a repressed authority figure - I thought at first his own cynicism would be eventually paired with Todd's emoness at some point for some interesting conclusions, but nada.

20:56 / 28.03.08

I agree. I was terrifically excited despite not being a buyer into the Burton Thing in general. I liked the idea of a pretty classy musical bonded to it, though, and can't take my eyes off either Bonham-C or Depp, generally. I could ramble on and on, but I found it too flashy. I didn't believe the Todd character for a second and, although Helena B-C was, I think, the best thing in it, the words themselves were sacrificed to Burton's style. I've never seen it on stage, and afterwards my inclination was to look up the book/words, because they were still the cleverest part.