groooooss

chantal and I went to see sweeney todd! now, I am not going to spoil the film, but if you do not want my opinion influencing your expectations of the film, DO NOT READ MY BLOG TODAY. thank you.

seriously stop reading if you are going to yell at me for ruining your viewing experience.

quit it.

ok! so sweeney. I had read the play so I knew pretty much what to expect plot-wise, but was eager in anticipation of my boy burton's adaptation. this is going to be a vague review. big plusses: costumes and makeup were excellent and in tim's usual off-the-wall form. cityscapes of 18th century england were exceptional, if not obviously computer generated. dream sequences of past-and-future were a nice break from the gloom of the present-tense sceneage. the dark mood was quite convincingly portrayed throughout the film with use of great details, minor things that really added to the whole thing. depp portrayed the vengeful, obsessive barber quite effectively, despite small hearkenings to previous characters (I'll let you decide who). helena was fantastic. she's lovely. what an actress. she had me at marla. the actor playing antony was fabulous! great singing voice and looks to boot. I hope he goes far. alan rickman . . . creeper. that is all. in whole, the film was not quite as incredible as I had imagined it would be, as it seemed to rush over plot details that I figured would be prominent, and lingered on bits that I thought were less important. we missed the first few minutes while stuck in the ticket line, but the opening seemed hasty and introduction of characters equally quick. I thought it odd that many (lovett, pirelli, the beggar) were able to recognize todd quickly, but both the judge and the beadle (who'd been particularly involved in his life) didn't at all. the film was also much gorier than anticipated. of course I knew the story of sweeney todd to be a macabre tale of a murderous barber and men baked into pies, but I tend to prefer films that use the power of allusion to terrify viewers. obvious gore and excessive fake blood just don't do it for me. at all. bah. it seemed strange to me that burton used allusion in reference to the fates of todd's wife and daughter, as well as the that of the asylum guy, but was all too visual in depicting the deaths of victims at the hand of todd, including one near the end (that I won't give away) that would have been MUCH more effectively horrifying without the physical image. I also wanted more reasons to hate judge turpin and the beadle. yeah they were loathsome, but come on. milk those loathsome qualities! also stretch out their last moments. milk that audience reaction! quit showing me randos having their last shaves and becoming suppers.

on the bright side, the film was very true to the original playscript. johnny can sing! hurrah! and on a related note, so can vanessa paradis. she's popular in france, as my new housemates have informed me. and she's not too bad. also note: I positively adored the bit with lovett and todd at the seashore. I cried laughing. for a split-second.

upon returning home I researched the original source of the story of a demon barber on fleet street. apparently it is more than a work of fiction from the 19th century. near the end of the 1700s there was actually a barber named todd who was found guilty of murdering his patrons in order to steal from them, then cutting them up, discarding the bones in catacombs beneath a church, and having the meat made into pies at a bakery across the street opened by himself and run by a widow named lovett. this was at a time when london was overrun with criminals and lacked a sufficient police force. the story is actually quite interesting and I recommend anyone look it up. the historic fleet street in london is actually located adjacent to temple bar (as is my fleet street) but the temple bar in london was historically the westernmost barrier to the city, and dublin's temple bar was named after it and a man by the name of temple inhabited the area. whatever. london temple bar was grosser. heads of convicted criminals were often spiked and displayed there to deter other felons. gross.

anyway do what you like with my little blurb. but let me know if you've seen sweeney todd, and what you thought!