Posted 12 January 2008 - 05:04 PM
I saw a preview screening last night at the BFI. I was sent an invitation via email when I was in Australia. Although it was not advertised at the end of the screening Tim Burton came out for a Q &A with the auidence.
What can I say. The film is briiliant. Visually it looks stunning, very dark. They've really caputured the look of London at the time. The costumes are great, as is the lighting and the make up. The whole this is very dark, aka very Tim Burton. The film is 99% sung right through. The singing isn't briiliant, so if you're going for this reason, your bound to be disappointed. Johnny Depp's voice hold it's own and has a gravelly rock quality, whilst Helena Bonham Carter's is thin, but adequste and the song By The Sea, is a colourful number to beak up the darness of the whole look and gives you an insight into Mrs. Lovett and her unrequited love for Sweeney Todd. Helena Bonham Carter is actually quite good, at at times, quite amusing.
Don't kidd yourselves, this is not the Broadyway show. The opening credit are animated with the theme og blood dripping and running into the next frame. The opening song of the musical The Ballad of Sweeney Todd has been completely cut, as has Kiss Me (Ah, Miss)- which I must admit, I missed as I find this song to be quite sight and light and whimsically amusing. Judge Turpin's self-flaeggelation scene (and as a result his version of Johanna) has been cut, as has many chorus narration.
Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford is (actually) quite slimy and and nasty and his singing is really quite minimal. Some song have been reduced, so for example God! That's Good! that would run for 7mins has now been reduced to 3mins. So the whole sequence where Sweeney Todd is interrupting Mrs. Lovett to give her the signal for the chair working has been cut. Although the beggar woman is in the movie- as she is a vital character, her intial entrance where she approached both Sweeney Todd and Anthony at the docks has also been cut. Green Finch and Linnet Bird has been shortened, as has the whole barber sequence featuring Pirelli.
Parlor Songs has also been cut and although The Beadle telling Judge Turpin is included- this is where Timpthy Spall sings- it is only the begining and the rest of the song is cut, as from memory it overlaps with Kiss Me (Ah Miss). Likewise where the lunatics start singing, or when Sweeney Todd is teaching Anthony to become a credible wigmaker hasn't been included. It is spoken. However you do follow Anthony into Fobb's lunatic asylum.
Speaking of Pirelli, Sasha Baron Cohen is really quite amusing. He looks kinda funny in a skin tight blue costume with bulges in all the wrong places. As we all know, Pirelli is Sweeney Todd's first victim and first Sweeney Todd bashed his, quite violently, and when he cut's his throat, there is blood- I'm talking "Oh, my God! There's soooo much of it". In Total on screen (I think) there are a total of ten throats slashed. As the blood flows freely- nothing really prepares you for the amount of blood- you see the bodies being slid down the barber shoot with a head splitting thump. Sometimes as the blood sputs, it actually hits the camera! When he slashes the throat of Judge Turpin, and Sweeney Todd's face is blood splattered, suprisingly Johanna, who is hiding in the chest while awaiting Anthony's return to rescue her, witnesses the whole thing and onne he realise that he has caught, as he is about to slash her throat, he is only interrupted by the screams of Mrs. Lovett, and the he lets her go, telling her to never return. You also see quite clearly, Sweeney throwing Mrs. Lovett into the oven, her trapped inside and screamming as she's burning and him locking the door on her.
Both Anthony and Johanna are youthful and fresh faced the character of Tobias is actually a small kid- possibly 11 years of age, if he's a day. Also very good and when he catch's onto what 's happening around him and tries to warn Mrs. Lovett about Sweeney Todd in Nothing's Gonna Hurt You, it's really quite seat and tender.
When we left the cinema, the BFI had framed photos from the film and scatches of the costume designs. They also had in glass display cabinets the costumes wore by both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in the film, as well as the razor bladed in their box with the leather sharpening strap. However I went back today to photograph them, but the cosumes and razors on display has been removed from display in their glass cabinets.
An excellent film, highly anticipated, well done. Definately a must see- but you have been warned about the blood!
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Sweeny Todd: The Deman Barber Of Fleet Street Film Review, Ist Screening
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