and all that i can see, is just another lemon tree.

SWEENEY TODD (2007)

genre: musical & performing arts
director: tim burton
screenwriter: john logan
producers: richard d. zanuck, walter f. parkes, laurie macdonald, john logan
composer: stephen sondheim
starring: johnny depp, helena bonham-carter, alan rickman, timothy spall, jamie campbell bower

featuring a wronged barber in 19th-century london wielding silver razors on a mission of vengeance, singing ''don’t they all deserve to die?'' in the thrilling epiphany basically opens the first-act climax of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

only stephen sondheim’s 1979 musical-theatre masterpiece explains the barber's reasoning so eloquently, quote: “the lives of the wicked should be made brief. for the rest of us, death will be a relief.” the legend of this grim reaper and the widowed baker, mrs. nellie lovett, who assisted him by grinding up dead customers into meat pies, has been around for over 150 years. *matakot kaaa! hehe.

the story picks up on the unfortunate past of a barber named benjamin barker (johnny depp), who’s family was taken away from him by the overly pious judge turpin (alan rickman). after getting out of jail fifteen years later, and without knowing the fate of his beautiful wife and daughter, barker makes his way back to fleet street. coming home though, something is different with this man. he is set out for revenge and no longer the man he once was, benjamin barker is now dead to the world — people now call him sweeney todd. *yaa. and people don’t notice na cia pla un. well, if you look at the before and after, you wouldn’t really know. todd comes back to find that life and home that he once had no longer exists. the shop below his parlor is ran by mrs. lovett (helena bonham carter), who informs him of the fate that his family had endured. todd can think of nothing but vengeance, leading him to carry out a murderous plot. *goosebumps. HAHA.

to stage a proper sweeney todd, necks must be slit, human flesh must be squished into pastries, and blood are to spurt in fountains and rivers of death. then comes in director tim burton, who has chopped and squeezed an almost dauntingly famous theater piece into something that stands up to the screen, and has tenderly art-directed soupy textured, tomato-red colored, fake-gore blood. basically, by considering the elements that are ought to be seen, this film adaptation was an utter success. *yey! cheers. haha. biasss ko..

burton's version, starring the ever lovely johnny depp in the title role and the crazy helena bonham carter as mrs. lovett. they also hired alan rickman in the role of the judge, and even sacha baron cohen aka borat in the role of a blackmailing faux-Italian con man. it becomes the most enduringly classic sweeney todd ever released for me most probably because of the cast. *and also khit mrami pang theatrical versions nto, eh duh! you cant put in much computer graphics, effects and much kpag live so i think most probably best ever na to.. this lavish, attentive production is splashed with the director’s signature style and a great entertaining cast produced a film worth watching, remembering and reviewing. *HAHA. mapili ako. oo!

indeed, the movie is so finely minced a mixture of sondheim's original melodrama and burton's signature spicing that it's difficult to think of any other filmmaker so naturally suited for the job. *can you imagine how DreamWorks or Pixar would translate the bloodshed and the merciless deaths? HAHA. what he only lacks in ease when it comes to directing fully liberated amusement, real fear, and dangerous glee, is his steadfastly attempts to make up for with compensatory floods of visual verve. *ung tipong moral lesson to make up for all the killings na naganap. and in the end pa, namatay ung bida and everyone else na involved. mdio unsuitable na kc ung film for young audiences. anywho it doesn’t matter kc basically its all about vengeance nga dba?

oh, captain jack sparrow! gone to the really, really dark side! *HAHA. burton has an affinity for the mayhem's grand gloom setting, of course. but more valuably, he has a unique collaborative relationship with his longtime leading man. painted in chalky paleness and drop-dead under-eye red shadows out of the pirates of the caribbean–edward scissorhands makeup bag, depp boosts the production through sheer graceful grit of stardom. he emphasizes the mourning man's melancholy; he misses his lost wife and the daughter who's now the hideous judge's ward, with a cold ‘sleepy hollow’ ghostliness, rather than a hot, aggravated world of fury. depp is a decent enough singer in a cast for whom vocal prowess isn't their first job or even fifth job choice. but the singing almost doesn't matter, as long as he's around: he's the most interesting person on the screen, and the demon barber he conjures is a fascinating interpretation indeed.

tim burton and johnny depp go together like black and blue, or like fire and ash. amidst the chaos, there is a unique unison between the two conflicting forces. most of their films are something of a paradox. mixing the dark with light, pain with pleasure, and humor with sorrow. the tandem has worked together on some fantastic projects in the past, and the two names becoming synonymous with each other. most of their projects have lately been looked at as “just another burton/depp film”. while sweeney todd does carry the well known characteristics of most burton/depp films, this one is different.

as for mrs. lovett, she truly is a woman of 'limited wind', as sondheim describes her and bonham carter sings her in a thin, breathy voice — it's difficult to believe that this particular bloody wonder can lift a rolling pin, let alone crank the handle on her hellish meat-grinding machinery. it's nice, though, how her corpse-bride complexion complemented depp's.

what makes the film so special is burton’s faithfulness to the spirit of the story. the film needed to be brutal and graphic so as to properly portray the evil-ness of todd. it was burton’s touch that made it a fun experience. the music and the lyrics were brilliant and the film was a fantastic orchestra of contrast. sweeney todd mixed black with white, irony with sincerity, and humor with solemnity in such a way that made the film a wonder to watch.


Legend: RED : important facts.
BLUE : side comments of reviewer.

reese corpuzü(2008)©