Sunday, November 16, 2008

Day 16 - Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd

Jamie Campbell Bower as Antony the young sailor, about to spy Todd's daughter, the captive Johanna.

Randy tivoed Sweeney Todd for me (my husband is no fan of musicals so this gesture of thoughtfulness make me smile and wonder if the opposite of paranoia is the belief that the entire world is working for your good will and happiness and is that called optimism and wouldn’t it be great if one in four Londoners had those kind of delusional thoughts?) but I was a little reluctant. It looked unrelentingly dark (and of course it is but for one funny fantasy scene at the seaside) and I'm no fan of horror films (which it really is, especially the last awful ten minutes) and although I do love Johnny Depp, it's not enough to watch every toss-off he's done. But it's Sondheim.

And now I can't get those songs out of my head. "Johanna" has got to be one of the most gorgeous pieces ever written for musical theater. Beautiful, beautiful melodies that go in unexpected places and soar over the vile subject, a serial killer and his evil (urk) pie-making accomplice.

2 comments:

Janet Hale Tabin said...

CF, I almost never leave the theater before the end of the movie, no matter how many criticisms I have along the way; always want the whole picture, to turn a phrase more apt. But I couldn't sit through Sweeney Todd. Though I knew full well it was comedic, I could not get passed all the blood. JT

Cindy Fey said...

I don't blame you, Janet. I have to turn away. So I missed a good chunk of this movie, holding my book up to the screen so all I could see was the subtitles.