Sweeney Todd, le diabolique barbier de Fleet Street

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is one of the best musical films ever made and probably the last truly excellent Tim Burton effort in directing. It's a romantic and enthralling vision of the dark perspective about life and death for the poor people controled by the privileged, cruel and envious society. It finds a inspired Johnny Depp in probably his best performance of this century. Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall compelte this luxury cast, which is one of the most talented one assembled in a musical!

As it happens more often than not, greatness is relegated to some obscure angle. In a year of brilliant opuses by the Cohen Brothers and PT Anderson, this Tim Burton film shines as the best from every angle. It's not just that Burton creates another superb, dark universe with Dante Ferretti's complicity or that Johnnt Deep breaks new ground, or that Helena Bonham Carter surprises us with a complex, marvelous realistic parody. The film touches visually a very private cord. Ed Wood managed that but Tim Burton with "Sweeny Todd" elevates it to the purest form of art. He will be punished for that, as Ed Wood was in its day. Disappointing grosses in a world that worship grosses will make it appear as a sort of a failure. My advise to you is run to see it wherever you can find it. Try to see it in a big screen with great sound. You will fly and dream and be taken away by the masterful hands of Tim Burton and the glorious faces of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

As a fan of the original stage version of this grimly Gothic tale, going into Sweeney Todd was bittersweet in my hopes and expectations. However, I'm pleased to announce that I did find Burton's latest effort impressive and intentional. Fans of the original won't be disappointed with a top-notch cast and the wonderfully dark overtures that haunt every minute of Sweeney Todd. Tim Burton, one of the masters of ambiance, sets his atmosphere in the grisly streets of a depressed London and his artistry punctures through every scene of screen time. I would have to clarify that, while Johnny Depp is a skilled actor, fans of the original will find it hard to believe that Depp has the ability to transform into the George Hearn "Sweeny" we've come to know. This is in fact true and recognized by Burton. In this respect, the character of Depp is not played as the same manner as the deep-voiced, towering Todd from the musical adaptation. Depp's is more of a less boisterous and thoughtful one. The vocal performances are great but have a different approach and feel to them. It was a refreshing adaptation and I feel a triumph on the part of Burton for making a stage-to-screen experience that captures you from it's bloody introduction.

Despite the grim expectations from the story synopsis, the film delivers gore in a surprisingly tasteful way. There are no screaming teenagers running from a lunatic; instead we get a somewhat British blend of satire, slapstick and just "wrong" humor. Although I'm not much of a Johnny Depp fan, I enjoyed his performance as well as Helena Bonham Carter's. Even the portrayal of the common clients was stunning.

Despite being generally familiar with the story, I fell into some traps expecting specific twists, yet something different (and better) being delivered. This is a model of how to do dark humor that filmmakers should and probably will follow. It is most refreshing. Don't read the story and don't read any spoilers until you've seen it.

After fifteen years in the Australian pokey, barber Johnny Depp (as Benjamin Barker) returns to his nineteenth century Fleet Street, London flat and assumes the name "Sweeney Todd". Wrongly imprisoned, Mr. Depp is in a vengeful mood. He learns his wife has poisoned herself, and left teenage daughter Jayne Wisener (as Johanna) in the clutches of lusty Alan Rickman (as Judge Turpin) and Timothy Spall (as Beadle Bamford). Depp's sailing companion, young Jamie Campbell Bower (as Anthony Hope) hears Ms. Wisener singing, and falls in love at first listen. And, she is similarly smitten.

Meanwhile, acting like "Aladdin Sane", Depp showers himself with the blood of throat-slit victims. His new co-dependent companion, dark-eyed Helena Bonham Carter (as Nellie Lovett), sells meat pies made with the human carcasses Depp provides. "And baby makes three" when Depp and Ms. Bonham Carter "adopt" gin-swigging young teenager Edward "Ed" Sanders (as Tobias "Toby" Ragg), after making tasty mince meat out of his swarthy guardian, Sacha Baron Cohen (as Adolfo Pirelli).

Subtitled "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", director Tim Burton's "Sweeny Todd" is more horror opera than Broadway musical. The promotional material says it "has been hailed as a masterpiece by critics and audiences everywhere." Now, that's going too far, in this case - but, you know Burton and Depp are going to be attached to something visually arresting, and is certainly so. There is, at least, masterpiece-caliber work from the likes of Colleen Atwood, Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo, and Dariusz Wolski, who will hopefully continue to be seen among the outstanding Burton/Depp crews.

******* Sweeney Todd (12/3/07) Tim Burton ~ Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Jamie Campbell Bower, Ed Sanders