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Sleepy Hollow
***
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Bromborough)
Released in the UK by UIP on January 7, 2000; certificate 15; 105 minutes;
country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Tim Burton; produced by Scott
Rudin, Adam Schroeder
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker; from a screen story by Kevin
Yagher, Andrew Kevin Walker; based upon the short story "The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
Photographed by Emmanuel Lubezki; edited by Chris
Lebenzon
CAST.....
Johnny Depp..... Icabod Crane
Christina Ricci..... Katrina Van Tassel
Michael Gambon..... Baltus Van Tassel
Michael Gough..... James Hardenbrook
Jeffrey Jones..... Steenwyck
Richard Griffiths..... Phillipse
Miranda Richardson..... Lady Van Tassel
Casper Van Dien..... Brom Van Brunt
Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow", first published in 1819, is a well-respected folk tale of
supernatural secrets, and has survived the generations long enough to spawn
several film adaptations -- among them an Emmy-winning mini-series for kids
and a Disney animation. When Tim Burton, that distinctive director of twisted
heroic journeys and gothic fantasies, decided to do his own remake of the
Irving work, the project was expected to be his prestigious bid for Oscar
success. If David Lynch can make a subtle movie with a premise as weird as
that of "The Straight Story", people thought, surely Tim Burton can take
a delicate approach to a classic?
Actually, this "Sleepy Hollow" is
as Burtonesque as possible, a gory special-effects extravaganza set in 1799
that plays like a cross between Thomas Hardy and "The Evil Dead". Tim has
determined to stay in his own wild world, and along with his screenwriters,
Andrew Kevin Walker and Kevin Yagher, has confidently shuffled around the
details of Irving's plot for his own purposes. Even the image of the famous
literary figure Ichabod Crane has been altered -- he's no longer a lanky,
curious schoolteacher who lives where the story is set, but a clumsy New
York City police constable played by Johnny Depp.
Burton and Depp's Crane travels to the village
of Sleepy Hollow to investigate the murders of three local men -- all of
whom were found in the woods without heads. The town elders -- Van Tassell
(Michael Gambon), Hardenbrook (Michael Gough), Steenwyck (Jeffrey Jones)
and Phillipse (Richard Griffiths) -- inform Crane that they suspect the legendary
'Headless Horsemen' of the crimes, a warrior ghost who is said to stalk and
decapitate the inhabitants of the area in search of his own noggin. But the
constable does not want to listen, claiming to be a man of science and reason,
and searching for a human culprit.
There is fun to be had in just watching Crane
try to operate his newfangled scientific gadgets, which are elaborately designed
for no visible purpose, with windows and panels and knobs aplenty, which
constantly spring out of his control. Depp plays the character as a clearly
preposterous man who nonetheless attempts to maintain serious authority,
and who rigidly keeps eyes wide open, head upright and mouth poised properly
even while cowering from a spider, or shrieking in peril under bed
sheets.
The amusingly clumsy fellow soon learns that the
Headless Horseman is indeed a real figure, and also finds such sights as
a witch and a magical tree. Crane carries out silly interrogations, investigates
town records and digs up the victims' graves for further research, getting
closer to the explanation behind Sleepy Hollow's odd events, and to a violent
confrontation with the villain responsible. There are slow patches, and at
times the film gets tangled up in unnecessary confusing details on the way
to its simple resolution. But the payoff redeems the flaws, thanks to Burton's
visuals, which are not inaccurate to the location and period, but are larger
than life, with the depth of Emmanuel Lubezki's photography slightly swelling
every image and casting a sinister blue mist over the night air. When the
horseman jumps out from these clouds, the camera rushes around in jarring
close-ups to follow the havoc he wreaks, and this makes for stunning action
sequences.
Admittedly, I expected terrific production values
and an amusing Johnny Depp performance from "Sleepy Hollow". Burton, as I
keep stressing, is one of the most visually astute of all working filmmakers,
and Depp has performed creatively in the challenging title roles of the
director's "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood". The pleasant surprise here
is Christina Ricci, a young actress whose recent persona has only been fit
for satire, with its rebellious, dead-eyed, flat-voiced arrogance. She is
sincere and subtle as Katrina, the innocent maiden who loves and protects
Icabod Crane, displaying versatility I believed her to have
lost.
No doubt Ricci was just so amazed by the movie's
carefully constructed atmosphere that she could not stand in the way of it
with her usual distracting sarcasm. "Sleepy Hollow" proves -- as do "Pee
Wee's Big Adventure", "Batman", "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Nightmare
Before Christmas" -- that the offbeat crannies of Tim Burton's mind are worth
visiting, and he knows how to take us into them.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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