Sweeney Todd: The Director's Cut

Not Stephen Sondheim's celebrated musical, but rather a new BBC television dramatization of the story of the legendary murderous barber of Fleet Street—written by Joshua St. Johnston and starring Ray Winstone—2006's Sweeney Todd is an intelligent, sophisticated, and handsomely mounted version of the oft-told tale (it's also quite gruesome: the killings, in this ironically subtitled “cut” from director David Moore, are very bloody indeed). Winstone gives a refined performance, portraying Todd as an ordinarily subdued fellow whose murderous rages are set off by recollections of childhood abuse and prison mistreatment. Winstone is ably supported by Essie Davis as Mrs. Lovett, the lady whose trysts provide him with victims (and her the fillings for tasty meat pies), and by veteran David Warner as the blind inspector trying to track down the killer. This is no tongue-in-cheek take on the old penny-dreadful tale; it's a serious and intense retelling that accentuates the ghoulish character of the story. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)