Friday, December 21, 2007

Who gets eaten and who gets to eat?

Had Baz Luhrmann directed, we might've had something sensational. Instead, with fauxteur Tim Burton at the helm, Sweeney Todd is a makeup-caked dirge, an Edward Gorey strip come to life, the type of musical a depressed and/or homicidal high-schooler might enjoy. Critics are reacting favorably not because of Burton's interpretation, but because of the baseline strength of the material. The story and score are magnificent even when communicated without a sense of fun or humor. The film occasionally flirts with fun, but in the end it's a drag instead of a thrill, a downer instead of a throttled, heart-pounding ascent to madness.

Yet it's neither disaster nor sacrilege, even though I was expecting both as soon as the opening credits played (they mimic those of Burton's Willy Wonka, with blood substituting for liquid chocolate). Sondheim's score — arranged faithfully by the man himself and not Danny Elfman, thank goodness — sounds fantastic in a surround-sound setting. And screenwriter John Logan did not try to sweeten the ending nor dial down the volume of bloodletting. This is a far grislier Sweeney than you'd ever see onstage, and I applaud Burton's attempt to fully realize the Grand Guignol-ish aspect of the story.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: No one in this film can sing, and much of Sondheim's notes and words are either thinned (in Johnny Depp's case), swallowed (in Helena Bonham Carter's) or raped (in the case of a timid Sacha Baron Cohen, who has no idea what to do with the work's most patently entertaining role).

Given his youthfulness and the fact that he refined his generic English accent by playing a pirate, Depp's performance was sabotaged from the start. Sweeney is supposed to be an older, grizzled, angry man, not a depressed dullard suffering from an acute case of ennui. Anthony Lane hits the nail on the head: "Depp’s Sweeney comes across as one more mournful Burton wacko. His singing gives off the Cockney yowl of someone who has listened to too much early Bowie, and his ivory-pale face is crowned by a stiff black mane with a white blaze in it. If you had sat Susan Sontag down and broken the news that not everyone in New York reads Hegel, you would have got the same effect."

That's some funny shit, and correct. "Early Bowie" is a good description. Depp sounds like the frontman of an indie band that needs louder music to mask his lack of vocal refinement. There's a fine line between re-imagination and confusion, although Depp's Sweeney is 1,000 times better than his Willy Wonka. As for Carter, she seems to have a passing interest in the material. This lackluster comes to a head during the "A Little Priest" number, which is a showstopping climax onstage but here plays like a half-baked segue. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I would've killed to have had Russell Crowe and Emma Thompson in these roles, with Luhrmann directing. Watch the clip below. I can't even listen to Carter sing. It's like she's sucking in air instead of expelling it.

Why Luhrmann? For his energy. For his flair for the dramatic. For his understanding of how a movie musical needs to move and look in order to be successful. Watch this and imagine how his vision might've transformed and elevated Sweeney:

Burton and cinematographer Dariusz Wolski create a rhythm that is unimaginative and often static — as if they were too preoccupied by the set decoration, costuming, makeup and performances to worry about the film's pacing. A musical needs to sing out. This one whistles a bit. "A Little Priest" is evidence of this, as is the staging of "Not While I'm Around," which, ironically, is much too staged and inert. And "Pretty Women" should've turned into the most suspenseful movie scene of the year. The suspense is built in musically (God, those strings), but Burton isn't savvy enough to harvest it on celluloid. The result is rote, satisfactory, even elementary.

There are things to admire (love Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford), but they are canceled and trumped by what is lazy or uninspired. Suffice to say: The uninitiated will revel in Burton's Sweeney Todd. They will be exposed to Sondheim's virtuosity and its marriage to stylized gore and they will react gleefully. The film is a breath of fresh air if you're aware of it only as a new and original creation rather than a variation on a theme. But for the Sondheim superfan, I think perhaps we were hoping for more than a breath of fresh air. I wanted my breath taken away.

12 comments:

ah said...

bummer, my expectations dwindle. excitement remains.

J.J. said...

Go into it openly. Have no expectations. (This applies to all movies, in general.) Let it wash over you and judge for yourself.

StinkyLulu said...

I've been thinking about your review since I first read it yesterday, trying to figure out why I liked it so even as I agree with every fault you point out...

I think you're right, though: if you take this as an approach to the piece, without any real investment in preceding productions, it's easier to fall under its sway. So I wonder if it's a matter of how you wear your fandom while watching the film.

So it's weird: I agree with you on nearly every point but, on each said point, I come away mostly enamored and you emerge mostly dismayed.

One thing I simply cannot agree with you on: Russel Crowe? Tear my ears, ears and soul out now. (I really liked Depp in the role, for I think I experienced more fondness for Sweeney than I have ever before as a result of his performance. I would have happily switched HBC for Toni Collette but ended up appreciating HBC as well...) But Russell Crowe -- no, no, a million times no...

StinkyLulu said...

My eyes, ears and soul...

J.J. said...

Interesting. Crowe wouldn't be my first pick either -- he just seems like the best compromise if they wanted a marquee name. If I had my way, Bill Nighy would've been Sweeney.

Sam Brooks said...

I appear to be the only person who thoroughly enjoyed Bonham-Carter in the role. I really think it's one of the best of the year, even if her voice isn't. But I even found her voice pleasant, if not overwhelming. But she's still one of my favourite actresses and her performance in this proves why.

Evan Tucker said...

You may already know this, but originally Crowe was supposed to be in the title role with Mendes directing. But acc. to NYT Mendes instead decided to make a screen version of Follies with Aaron Sorkin rewriting the book.

J.J. said...

Brooke: I guess what I couldn't get past was that HBC seemed so utterly uninterested in the role. I saw passivity, not brilliance.

MB: Yes, I knew about Mendes. And Meryl Streep and Kevin Spacey were attached even earlier, too, before Crowe was considered.

Sam Brooks said...

Mmm. I can't comment that she seems disinterested in the role; but I can kind of see where you're coming from. She has that kind of quality in all of her roles. But, still, I found her brilliant in the role. She didn't try and justify Mrs. Lovett and got into the real depths of the character and her feelings for Sweeney.

J.J. said...

I guess I appreciate a little effort. A smart former colleague of my described HBC's Lovett as kind of like the Nancy part of Sid & Nancy -- the disaffected, youthful, drugged waif who goes along with a crazy person. But the plot hinges on Mrs. Lovett being the "devil's wife," and HBC certainly didn't hit it home for me.

DiSa said...

"There's a fine line between re-imagination and confusion, although Depp's Sweeney is 1,000 times better than his Willy Wonka."

Bless your heart for this. That remake enraged me. Gene Wilder, ftw!

Anonymous said...

I agree completely. I was particularly disappointed with Helena Bonham Carter. Mrs. Lovett is supposed to give a certain dark humor to the musical but she made the character seem so drab. Another thing I really didn't like about this is how Depp really doesn't make the audience feel sympathetic for sweeney.