*** Official SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

I agree with that, though I defer to those who think he sounds like Anthony Newley for one reason: Depp sounds like Bowie did when Bowie sounded like Anthony Newley!

Dunno if Depp was impersonating Bowie as Newley or impersonating Newley...

 

[BrianShort]

I saw this last night with my dad, who is a big fan of the classic Hollywood musicals, and has been on stage a few times as a chorus member in some local theater productions.
I really enjoyed the show (4.5 out of 5). My only previous exposure to the story was the taped stage production with Hearn and Lansbury, and the concert version with Hearn and LuPone. I thought that Depp and Carter did a fine job as Todd and Lovett. Even though they definitely aren't singers, I thought they did Toby. He was EASILY the best singer of any of the case, and I thought that if they ever get around to making a film version of Les Mis, he's be great as Gavroche (sp?).

I wanted to ask if anyone here was put off by the level of spurting blood? It didn't bother me, but I've seen plenty of slasher horror films so that sort of stuff doesn't turn me off. My dad, however, had some problems getting past it, and the idea that someone would bake murdered people into pie. He loved the music and performances and all that, but I think the level of blood and some of the story's basic concept turned him off to actually liking it. I wonder if the story wouldn't have been just as strong if they downplayed the blood and gore factor... thoughts?

 

[Brian D H]

I'm in the exact same situation. I loved the movie and it was exactly as bloody as I expected given the subject matter and the R rating.

However, my Mom is a 60-year-old fan of the stage show and I told her not to see it because of the gore. (Trust me, she'd hate it.)

 

[SD_Brian]

I wasn't put off by it but I did find it to be repetitive, particularly during the number that basically consists of throat after throat being slashed, followed by geyser of spurting blood and a fall down the chute to the basement. I wish Burton could have put a bit more variety into that sequence in particular as each repetition made the effect less...well, effective.

Other than that one small quibble, I found it to be a pretty good movie. I do, however, wish it would have been longer as some of the subplots got short-changed. Okay, so that's two small quibbles. Still a pretty good movie though.

 

[Michael Reuben]

There's no getting around the subject matter. One of the times I attended the Broadway revival with Michael Cerveris and Patty Lupone (which was less overtly bloody than the original staging), a woman several rows behind me kept muttering to her companions, "That's disgusting! That's disgusting!"

If she'd been closer, I would have shushed her, but I was actually kind of amused. What show did she think she was coming to see? And I rather enjoyed the (you'll pardon the expression) visceral reaction that the show prompted in someone who was obviously new to it.

I think the movie did what was necessary for the medium. Stage violence requires a lot less to get a reaction from an audience. There's something about sharing a physical space with the actors that makes even simulated violence feel more "real". Film is more distancing, and audience expectations have been amped up by slasher films and torture porn. I also think Burton and Depp used the gore creatively, as part of the storytelling. Most of Sweeney's murders are impersonal, and the victims are dispatched with cool precision. But there are three murders that are deeply personal to Sweeney, and those murders are passionate, messy and even clumsy. (Any viewer of the film will know which ones I mean; they're the first, the last and the one he spends the longest time thinking about.) That's something that wasn't really in the play and that could only be done on film, and that alone was enough, I thought, to justify the level of gore.

(As an aside, the Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, whose first feature-length film, In Bruges, is supposed to be released this year, demonstrated exactly what happens when you do explicit gore on stage. In his brutally funny play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, you get as much blood flying as you do in Sweeney -- it's a minor miracle of stage-craft -- and the result is hysterical laughter from the audience. In the flesh, so to speak, it's so extreme that the only possible responses are to go into shock or to laugh at the absurdity.)

M.

 

[Holadem]

I will admit that meat pie thing is seriously impeding my interest as well. Gore is fine. But the idea that someone is serving human meat pies to unsuspecting customers is a big turn off. I will probably see thing thing, but it's definitely on the chores pile (typical of catch up season).

But not just yet. After Atonement last night, I need some happiness in my life

--
H

 

[Sean Laughter]

Then, of course, a fourth murder SHOULD have been very personal to Sweeney, but that's the one that completes the tragedy of the story.

 

[Dennis Castro]

That's exactly why I liked it!!!!!

 

[SD_Brian]

That's the same reason I stopped eating at Burger King.

 

[Dennis Castro]

LOL!!!