Is there any director more associated with goth culture than Tim Burton? I’d be tongue-tied trying to find the answer. It’s a niche that perhaps suits him best, and he knows how to conceptualize that stuff to death—but it only works when the material fits. When it doesn’t, say in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Planet of the Apes, the style becomes a hindrance to the story, making it worse than it already is. Those titles stopped being movies and became an Oscar campaign for the production designer and the art director.
Now, with something like Sleepy Hollow, a great film comes out because the material compliments the director’s eye. This same thing happens here with Sweeney Todd. The look of the film is old territory for Burton, but it allows him to perfect every detail even more. This time, the story needs that kooky gothic boost to make it feel alive. I came to this conclusion pretty early on. Right when the movie started, actually.
After the opening credits, the film grinds to a halt before it even begins. Forgettable songs with tawdry lyrics are sung and the actors seem to be going through the motions. Johnny Depp plays one expression for the entire film—okay, intentionally—and Helena Bonham Carter is again the woman that could have been a broken umbrella with seaweed on it, this time a baker named Mrs. Lovett. Believe it or not, that’s a compliment. The film really takes off, though, when Sacha Baron Cohen enters. Not only because he injects some well-needed humor into the blues, but also because his traveling salesman character serves as the kickoff point for Sweeney’s quest for revenge.
Question is, can the actors sing well? Sure, as adequately as they were required to. Lookwise, the casting is almost too perfect and too easy, and it’s debatable whether or not Burton should’ve looked for more capable singers. As a result, much of Sweeney Todd repeats itself, and the songs are little more than the actors speaking really fast to a rhythm rather than doing actual singing. Though some numbers got it right, it’s unfortunate that there are songs that are just way too dull to make a mark. I’ve heard that they simplified Sondheim’s songs for the movie to accommodate the non-singer players, but since I have yet to see the play, I have no authority on that end.
Visually, everything looks boo-hoo-blue-hue, with sets that resemble something out of Harry Potter rather than Burton’s more inspired German Impressionistic sets. Though at first I felt cheated out of my Caligari-esque visual feast, I knew immediately why Burton chose something less “children’s doodles” than his previous films. The atmosphere of a dark, seedy London is kept ultra thick for the entire film, giving it a great gothic horror flavor. When color does enter, it’s downright unreal how lavish it is. You almost want to reach in and eat them like multi-flavored cotton candy. An inspired shot that stands out to mind is one with a starkly colorful green and yellow pasture during a lovely sunny day, but Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett are still in monochromatic pale blue. It’s not only a gorgeous shot to look at—it’s also hilarious, sending up the whole goth attitude. Most of the time, though, it’s kept in a limited palette. The highest of praise must be given to cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who brought the darkness of his work on Dark City and combined it with the whimsy of his style in the Pirates trilogy.
Here’s why Sweeney Todd is a remarkable piece of work: despite the fact that there are people bursting into songs and silliness afoot, Burton still manages to deliver what is first and foremost a horror film. This is Tim Burton’s giallo, much more about the artistry of the gore than the scares. After teasing us with tension-filled scenes of Sweeney giving someone a close shave and waiting for the throat cut, the red suddenly explodes into the screen in marvelous ways. It’s not too scary to be repulsive, but not too hokey to be funny. The macabre of this film rests comfy somewhere between. It’s not Barbershop 2 scary, but what is?
To Burton, the blood functions nothing more than as a red paint to color the images with. This is never truer than in the ending, in which two characters share one of the most memorable love scenes in recent memory, as they cradle one another bathed in blood. Far from being sick or gory, the puddle of blood transcends what it is and becomes a décor to a genuinely tragic and touching moment. The mastery of this ending convinced me that Burton has a profound streak in him that I wish we got to see more often.
"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" opens December 21, 2007 and is rated PG13. Drama, Musical. Directed by Tim Burton. Written by Stephen Sondheim (musical), Christopher Bond (play), John Logan (screenplay). Starring Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall.
