I'm going to admit my bias right away: I hate this film. As a fan of the stage musical, I can't say that Tim Burton's adaptation is even representative of Sondheim and Wheeler's work. But, as I have said before -- and to avoid hypocrisy -- I hope here to objectively view the 2007 film on its own merits and not by comparing it to incomparable media (a book or stage show), and certainly not by comparing it to my expectations of what the film should be. Shall we stroll down Fleet Street together, then? Tuck in, lads.
Since the film is a musical, let's start with the adapted score. The instrumental theme thunderously succeeds, raucously inviting us into a hellish 1846 London. Other slightly tweaked moments, such as Judge Turpin's masquerade ball, sound beautiful and rich onscreen. I find unbalanced, however, the rousing orchestrations and the singers. None of the vocalists (with the exception of young Ed Sanders) are powerful singers, and their voices don't quite fit the operatic scope of the music. Rather, many of the songs are performed clipped and conversational, as if they were stylized dialogue; this would work for "The Worst Pies in London", but not necessarily for "Wait", for example.
Though the singing doesn't always match the score, it arguably does match the style. Tim Burton typically heavily relies on stylized costumes, lighting, acting, camerawork, and visual effects to achieve a specific impression for an audience, and Sweeney Todd is no exception. In fact, his devotion to thick atmosphere, dark wit, and caustic theatricality is admirable and makes this film notably compelling. I find his weighty style in this film a tad damaging, because it occasionally works against the story; he highlights spectacle, which feels redundant since the material is already so spectacular. By the end, it feels so unrealistic that I have little interest in any of the characters or their problems. A big reason for this is Burton's focus on splatter. The deaths of the characters are icky and fun but also distancing. Sometimes this works -- a combination of giggling and shrieking that comes from complementary nastiness -- but when splashed across an otherwise grim and brooding world, I have a hard time accepting any seriousness in the tale.
Pardon a little lecture: Musicals are a lot like Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's plays, there are precious few stage directions, but as scholars will tell you, almost all the dialogue implies some amount of stage direction if you know the signs. Similarly, musicals (more specifically, the music and lyric of musicals) imply a lot of stylistic and acting advice. Having seen this film, I'm not sure Tim Burton or Johnny Depp (among others, no doubt) understand how to "do" a musical, because they ignore a lot of potentially effective moments, while rendering others redundant or oxymoronic. Consider "My Friends", which feels unnecessary because the camera repeats images that mirror (literally) the lyrics, or "The Worst Pies in London", when the editor ignores potentially comedic beats on Mrs. Lovett in favor of showing Sweeney's disgust at the pies (that she's already telling us are disgusting).
A last thought on musical productions: The great paradox of musicals is that, though "realistically" we do not break out into song and dance, in the theatre we burst out into song and the audience automatically believes us. Hopefully they believe us and empathize with us by the power of the music and our vulnerability in the moment. But in this film, I often feel distanced from the characters and the material because the singing is awkward and the style overwrought. That said, "Epiphany" has a great idea in entering Sweeney's mind as he hunts his victims. And I like the visual fantasy in "By the Sea", but its contrast to the rest of the film makes the whole movie feel just that more surreal and contrived, more like an animated picture.
Moving on to the cast. Helena Bonham Carter soars as Mrs. Lovett, and her remarkable strength in humanizing a crazed character makes up for her sometimes shaky vocals. Johnny Depp is an interesting Sweeney: He's somewhat introverted, surprisingly young (I don't believe for an instant that the apparently older Pirelli worked for him as a boy), and apparently can't sing with proper technique though his tone weirdly works in context. Depp and Carter have some nice moments together, but especially shine in "Little Priest". Ed Sanders steals the show as Toby, and his beautiful, powerhouse voice amazes me. Young boys who can sing the part are rare enough (I've seen it convincingly played as an older, handicapped boy), and it seems a little odd that a child would need a "miracle elixir" to grow hair, but Sanders nails it.
Jamie Campbell Bower's vocals are nice, but I don't particularly buy that as Antony he is an experienced sailor. His facials leave a lot to be desired; for example, he can't quite decide what to do with his eyebrows at the end of "Johanna" and I laugh aloud every time (not the proper reaction, mind). Alan Rickman is a wonderful Judge Turpin, his added dialogue is very welcome, and his vocals are a fine supplement to his character work. Timothy Spall delights as Beadle Bamford, and his awkward singing style is fortunately kept to a minimum. Sacha Baron Cohen's attempts at singing are similarly kept short, and his acting is disconnected, vague, and ultimately inconsequential.
Neither Johanna nor the Beggar Woman are given enough screen time to garner our interest, and so the potential romantic and tragic elements of the story are largely discarded. Even Sweeney occasionally loses our interest: his spoken "Forget my face" and sparing of Johanna in the final scene is laughably stupid and wildly uncharacteristic. In conclusion, I find that this film limits its revenge-narrative scope to vague social commentary, stereotype-laden tropes of mental disorders, and a reinforcement of our culture's revulsion of bodily fluids. Do yourself a favor and watch the filmed national tour, with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury, or the recent concert production with Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson.
IMDb: Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
No comments:
Post a Comment