by Sam Banack
When Tim Burton and Johnny Depp get together I always get excited. We became the perfect threesome way back in the days of EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. The director, the actor and the audience. The three of us have been on many adventures: ED WOOD, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, SLEEPY HOLLOW, and CORPSE BRIDE. I was taken on this path down cine-memory lane in the short that preceded the screening of SWEENEY TODD, which I attended recently. Johnny Depp said that he loves to be in films directed by Burton because there is no one who knows him better, and I think this is why we love to watch them. Watching the fruits of their labour is more voyeuristic than a lot of films, because somewhere, in the back of my mind, I can picture the two of them in a huddle, joking and debating a shot, cajoling each other and inspiring the creativity that ends up on the screen.

This movie was no different. However, I must warn you, it is a musical…and it is gory. These two audiences don’t generally overlap so much. In the original stage production of SWEENEY there is the same amount of killing, but there cannot be the same amount of blood. So, if you are strongly against any of those two things, this may not be the movie for you. However, if you can handle both than I definitely recommend this movie. It has Burton’s stamp all over it. The dark landscape of Victorian London is perfect for his aesthetic to shine through. It is, in some parts, CORPSE BRIDE come to life. The palour of the characters, the griminess of the streets, the red of the blood. It follows the colour palette that has served Burton so well ever since the days of BATMAN.

And as for Depp, SWEENEY TODD is just another role he was born to play. Depp, while dreamy and swoon-inducing, remains the consummate actor. The wilder the role, the bigger the leap, the more entertaining the man is. To watch him interviewed he is, as himself, thoughtful, quiet, introverted. He holds your eye the second he appears, and doesn’t let it go until the final frame (even when you have to watch him from between your fingers during the really bloody bits). He’s maniacal and obsessed, lacks all morals, but yet, makes you hope he has his way. And of course…he’s as dreamy as always, even under the white skin, gray hair and dark eyes. As is Helena Bonham Carter, Burton’s wife and another mainstay of the Depp/Burton relationship.

Not exactly typical Christmas, but that may be exactly what some people want for Christmas, imagination, gore and a little bad boy Depp.