Alright, so I made it to the movies tonight. At first, it didn't look like I was meant to see "ST". In my earlier post you could read about my attempts to buy the tickets online in which I did not succeed. Then we left home. We decided to go via Central Station with the train instead of a direct Metro train to the cinema, which is next to Amsterdam Arena, a Pathé Multiplex. We opted for the train as I thought it would be a good idea to grab something to eat before settling for the movie. At Arena, there's no fastfood close by. Ok, I started with a chicken finger from the "automatiek" (a self service snack bar in the wall) and then headed for the Burger King on platform 2. I thought I had at least enough time to grab something and eat it on the next train to Arena. They call these places "fast food", don't they? Naturally, it took ages and I decided to walk away as I wouldn't be served in time... sigh... now it was too late of course for any other place, they were also quite busy too everywhere. Oh well, I won't starve I figured... The train even arrived on time. But left with a delay. That meant we would not arrive in time at Arena. Of course, en route, it clocked up even more delay and we arrived almost ten minutes late at the cinema. Since only one box office was opened (!!!) and therefore had a long queue I opted to try the self service ticket machines. The first one seemed to work with my reduction pass. But at the end it refused to continue and print tickets. Damn. So I started queueing. Though Jelle tried another machine and now we decided to go for the normal pay transaction which surprisingly (or is it?) worked. On to the next obstacle. The entrance: they have one central entrance, only one kid is checking the entry and he was in a discussion with some other visitor who had lost something before... But finally, we got through, arrived at our cinema, found a nice seat (it was not very full) and at the moment we sat down, the movie started. Yeah, we made it, woohooo!!! ;-)
The first thing I noticed was the music. Right from the beginning, with the opening titles, I loved it! The opening titles were beautifully done, technically speaking. Very subtle, they set the tune and dragged you into the movie. At first I thought: Oh my god, this is not my movie, I don't like it, why is he singing right in the beginning? I was hesitant to let the story take over, let my imagination awake. I thought I didn't like the dark and grey set. I was rejecting my imagination's attempt to take over and lead me to another world. One that I loved before so often, one that I hadn't visited since a long time: the world of fantasy! But then, slowly but surely, I gave in and started to like it. I entered the world and arrived in the London of Sweeney Todd. I started being fascinated by the fantastic set, the dark and grey colors and the characters. Interestingly, the music to me sounds less "heavy" and dark and is a perfect counter balance to the visual impression one gets from the movie.
So far, I never was a real fan of Johnny Depp but I think he did a tremendous job in this movie, an excellent play! Surprisingly, he even sung pleasantly. As well as all other characters and their actors who were very interesting and played very well! Mrs. Lovett's role for example performed by Helena Bonham Carter was fabulous!
The film was never boring, there was a welcome and pleasant speed in the story telling. As I did not know much about the story beforehand the pace was pleasant, not to slow that it could be boring, not too fast that I couldn't understand it anymore.
The story's and movie's tension likewise was built up and at the end culminated in a to me maybe surprising or at least slightly unexpected finale. On a side note I would like to mention especially to Dani that it reminded me of the Death Note manga: a bit like Light, he - Sweeney - feels like he must take revenge and takes the lives from those he (and Mrs. Lovett) think they won't be missed, their death being justified . For a moment it strongly reminded me of Death Note.
The music of Mr. Sondheim is fantastic. I didn't know it before but I really loved it from the beginning! The songs, especially the duets are gorgeous and sung very well. I can't remember the last time that I really thought the songs were so essential to the movie than here (knowing of course this is a musical...). After all, they tell the story, almost all essential lines are actually songs. Once I had surrendered myself to the magic again it natural that they would start to sing instead of say something. The sound of the music, produced by a real big orchestra beautifully supports the different moods and characters. If you read a bit about the music and learn how complicated it actually is I must admit that I did not notice it during the movie - but I think that is a big kudos to the actors (who all did their own singing) who did such a tremendous job in acting and singing that they made the songs sound so perfect for the movie that you actually do not notice the complicated technical nature of the music.
What is so fascinating about the story itself is the fact that it is about something we all know: revenge. It's a fairy tale, true. But it's cruel you might say, but what real fairy tale isn't cruel either...? But it's not only cruel. It's also about love. As the promotional website puts it: "... it combines our most violent impulses with our most tender", "...at heart it's a very passionate, dark love story". There is so much in Sweeney Todd that I didn't expect. It's not just another entertaining movie, it's more than that. It really has a story to tell. It's fabulous, a must see movie I would say.
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