Sweeney Todd

Not really into musicals (can only count two I saw and really liked and they are Bob Fosse's All That Jazz and South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. And should Life of Brian count? I mean, there was this song-and-a- bit-of-dancing-while-crucified number towards the end. Um… where was I?) Yeah, but a musical directed by Tim Burton and is about a serial killing barber is enough to draw me out and end my months-old moviegoing abstinence.

It was moody, it was gory, it was disturbing, it had depraved characters in it, it had songs with wonderful lyrics in it (I’ve half a mind to buy the soundtrack, actually), and it was glorious. Excellent performance from the actors, especially Johnny Depp. His Sweeney Todd is all intensity that one can't help but avert one's eyes slightly when Burton closes in on his glowering visage. One thing that rankled a bit was Sacha Baron Cohen’s singing. While his cameo was fun, his singing sounded like he was possessed by Adam Sandler’s Opera Man character during his Saturday Night Live days.

But the thing that really stuck with me from the film is Burton’s vision of Victorian era (or was it pre-Victorian?) London. Burton’s London is dreary, dirty, and bleak that it could easily drive one to depression. Or slit other people’s throats. But despite all that, despite that coat of dirt and dreariness and bleakness--or because of it--Burton’s London is beautiful. Like that old saying goes, it'll be a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. The city's duality was summed up during the opening minutes where Todd saw the city, as “a hole in the world like a great black pit, and it's filled with people who are filled of shit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it, and it goes by the name of 'London,'” which was a response to a young sailor’s fairly romantic and optimistic view of the city.

And the city perfectly mirrors the movie. For all its gore and gouts of blood and the pervading gloom that sticks with you even after you've left the theater, it is still something that one can't help but love. Just don't be surprised if it doesn't love you back.