By Josh Moss
josh@louisville.com
First things first: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a musical. That’s right, you didn’t misread the previous sentence. The newest
movie from director Tim Burton is a blood-soaked, R-rated musical. A musical! It’s also one of the year’s best films.
For nearly two decades now, Burton and Johnny Depp — who plays the vicious, titular barber — have had a working relationship/friendship that’s created films such as Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. Though all reflected Burton’s strange vision, Sweeney Todd may be the weirdest…and the best.
Burton’s screen version is adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical of the same name, which experienced tremendous success on Broadway. We’re here to tell you that the songs in the movie are just as good — if not better — than in the stage version. We’re also here to tell you that Depp can flat out sing. Not to mention that his evilness drips off the screen like blood from the necks he slits. Oscar better be paying attention.
It all goes down in a rainy London that seems to be robbed of sunlight even during the afternoon. The tone is only enhanced by each character’s pale makeup and dark costumes. But there’s a good reason for things to be so glum. You see, a guy named Benjamin Barker used to be a happily married man with a newborn daughter. That was the case until the sinister Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, who you’ll recognize as Severus Snape from the Harry Potter movies) sent him away for 15 years on false charges.
When he returns to London, Barker has changed his name to Sweeney Todd, and he soon learns that Turpin has raped his wife, which prompted her to drink poison. He also discovers that Turpin has locked his now-grown daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) in her room. He travels to his old barbershop above the struggling meat pie shop owned by Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter, who should surely getting a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her singing abilities), vowing to lure the judge in for a shave so he can slice open his throat and rescue his daughter. Revenge, it’s safe to say, has corrupted Todd’s mind.
He wields his shiny razors — which resemble miniature hatchets — and starts killing off practically any “bleeder” who dares to sit in the barber’s chair, promising to execute “the closest shave they’ll ever know.” Then the seat, sort of working like a trap door, dumps the dead bodies into the basement below, where Mrs. Lovett grinds them up for her pies. It’s a “nice, respectable business,” as far as Mrs. Lovett’s concerned. (Hey, meat is expensive!)
It’s dark humor at its finest. “A Little Priest,” a duet by Todd and Mrs. Lovett about who they’ll chop up and serve in the pies, should challenge “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted and the titular song from Walk Hard for the Oscar. And even if you’re not a fan of musicals, we dare you not to crack a smile when Todd and rival barber Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame) sing “The Contest.”
Surely some people will skip Sweeney Todd simply based on the fact that it’s a musical. At the screening I went to, some people walked out. It’s really unfortunate because this is ambitious filmmaking that deserves to be seen. You know, too bad Sweeney Todd isn’t a real person. If he were, he could hold a blade to your neck and force you to see his movie. 
