I saw "Sweeney Todd" and I'd like to talk about that.
First of all, I liked it. I liked it both as a movie and as a musical, meaning that I found the music to be good as well. Several pieces of it are replaying themselves in my head. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the movie won Golden Globe for best movie and best actor. In sum, I do recommend it. Its director is Tim Burton, so the movie's setting and the whole atmoshphere is very Tim Bartonish, which I personally like. Although the story is supposed to be horror, the movie is not exactly morbid or "heavy", it has a good flow and it does not leave a feeling of depression. It does make you think and want to analyze it, which on my opinion is good.
More of my thoughts and impressions are under a cut so I won't spoil the movie for those who'd like to see it.
One thing that I couldn't figure out till now, perhaps, is the mismatch between Sweeney Todd's and Mrs. Lovett's make-up and everybody else's. Because, while the make-up of all the rest of the characters is natural, Todd's and Lovett's make-up is very explicit and very dramatic: white faces with dark circles around their eyes and dark lips. Today I had a theory that it was done in order to show that they are in the same state of mind. Not (only) that they are the main characters and partners in crime, but that their minds are the same, and that they are "out of this world". I thought about that, because when I tried to analyze their behavior, I found it to be very "illogical". Perhaps "illogical" is not an exact termin to describe the workings of one's mind, which is not logical by default, the more exact description would be that I couldn't find this obvious reason for their behavior. Yes, on the surface it seems that Todd is acting very "logically", wanting to revenge the person that destroyed his life, but his actions do not logically lead in this direction. After reading about this character on Wikipedia, I understood that perhaps the musical attempted to give his actions some justification, because traditionally Todd was described as (one of) the first serial killer(s). As to Mrs. Lovett, I fail to understand the reason why would she possibly want to be with someone like Todd. Not because he is a murderer, but because he completely ignores her and in general is not in the physical nor in the mental state to function properly. (Btw, in a couple of scenes Depp displays very Edward Scissorhands acting.) In addition, it seems that she was "attracted" to him even before they've actually met, only from what she heard about him. Or maybe I missed something in the movie.
As to the musical pieces, I liked Todd's and judge's duet about pretty women and Todd's and Anthony's about Johanna. Todd's and Lovett's duet about their new "menu" (hint for those who don't know the story: Mrs. Lovetts sells pies) was hilarious and I was not disgusted a bit. Another hilarious scene was when Mrs. Lovetts was telling about her plans for their mutual future and their grotesque "parody" on a family life.
As to the story, in my opinion there isn't much of it. The main theme is that Todd kills while Anthony wants to save his daughter from the judge. The story's resolution I would label as "quiet", because it was not, in my opinion, surprising nor dramatic. Is does not make the movie any worse...IMO there are not many options to end such story.
More of my thoughts and impressions are under a cut so I won't spoil the movie for those who'd like to see it.
One thing that I couldn't figure out till now, perhaps, is the mismatch between Sweeney Todd's and Mrs. Lovett's make-up and everybody else's. Because, while the make-up of all the rest of the characters is natural, Todd's and Lovett's make-up is very explicit and very dramatic: white faces with dark circles around their eyes and dark lips. Today I had a theory that it was done in order to show that they are in the same state of mind. Not (only) that they are the main characters and partners in crime, but that their minds are the same, and that they are "out of this world". I thought about that, because when I tried to analyze their behavior, I found it to be very "illogical". Perhaps "illogical" is not an exact termin to describe the workings of one's mind, which is not logical by default, the more exact description would be that I couldn't find this obvious reason for their behavior. Yes, on the surface it seems that Todd is acting very "logically", wanting to revenge the person that destroyed his life, but his actions do not logically lead in this direction. After reading about this character on Wikipedia, I understood that perhaps the musical attempted to give his actions some justification, because traditionally Todd was described as (one of) the first serial killer(s). As to Mrs. Lovett, I fail to understand the reason why would she possibly want to be with someone like Todd. Not because he is a murderer, but because he completely ignores her and in general is not in the physical nor in the mental state to function properly. (Btw, in a couple of scenes Depp displays very Edward Scissorhands acting.) In addition, it seems that she was "attracted" to him even before they've actually met, only from what she heard about him. Or maybe I missed something in the movie.
As to the musical pieces, I liked Todd's and judge's duet about pretty women and Todd's and Anthony's about Johanna. Todd's and Lovett's duet about their new "menu" (hint for those who don't know the story: Mrs. Lovetts sells pies) was hilarious and I was not disgusted a bit. Another hilarious scene was when Mrs. Lovetts was telling about her plans for their mutual future and their grotesque "parody" on a family life.
As to the story, in my opinion there isn't much of it. The main theme is that Todd kills while Anthony wants to save his daughter from the judge. The story's resolution I would label as "quiet", because it was not, in my opinion, surprising nor dramatic. Is does not make the movie any worse...IMO there are not many options to end such story.