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Rating:  -
Let's see... Oliver Twist as a heroin addicted prostitute. Not much of a twist there. I think we always imagined how homeless orphans made their living, but Dickens was Victorian enough to leave the details to our imagination.
All the elements of the original tale are here. There's Nick, as the street-wise Dodger and Josh Close as Oliver, the innocent new arrival. There's a grotesque Fagin as the boy's keeper, and an oddly invisible Bill Sykes, who terrorizes everyone around him. There's even a rich old man, who in the end, never adopts Oliver, proving to the boy that some people were just never meant to fit into society.
Fans of Nick Stahl will watch him peel potatoes for two hours, and say how wonderful he was. That's the essence of Hollywood. Stars sell movies. Even bad stories can get sold if a popular actor's name appears in the credits. I confess to being a fan of Nick Stahl. I usually enjoy watching him work because he brings such unfiltered emotion to his parts, but watching him struggle through this movie was torture. Ignore the poor sound quality, the lack of continuity, the odd color presentation, and the general lack of a script, and you have a half-told tale of life for street kids in any large city in the world. Nothing new, and unlike the original Dickens tale, nothing to stir your imagination.
So what's the twist? This turns out to be a story about prostitutes without a single sex scene. Very Canadian I suppose. Not even a quick shot of someone pulling up their pants after the deed is done. Several deeds are implied, and a couple go undone, but as far as sex goes, I think I could show this to my grandmother without offending her. It's a cowardly approach to the subject matter.
As I said before, fans of Nick Stahl will buy this because he's in it, no matter what it's about. If you're looking for a good story, or even a bad story that's worth watching, this is not your movie.
Rating: -
Director, Jacob Tierney has managed, in the movie Twist, to faithfully evoke the bleak, wintry landscape of Charles Dickens' atmospheric 19th century novel. He has also re-imagined whom Fagin, Oliver, Dodge and the rest of the renegade gang of pickpockets might be if they had lived in the 21st century. It's a clever idea and you have to admire the director's vision, even when the outcome isn't that good.
The trouble with Twist is that it's perhaps too overly faithful to Dickens' story. Transferring the premise to the snowy industrial heart of Toronto is no doubt compelling, but somewhere in the transference, the original vibrancy of the story has been lost in the process. Consequently, we have a movie that trundles and labors along, is unevenly acted, and has lots of long drawn out dead spots where nothing particularly significant happens. In the end, Twist comes across as rather strained and stretched, and feels far longer than its running time of ninety-seven minutes.
In this 21st century version, Oliver, (Joshua Close), Dodge (Nick Stahl) and the rest of the gang have been transformed into male hustlers whom Fagan (Gary Farmer) commands to walk the seedy back alleyways of Toronto picking up guys whenever they can. Fagin gets his orders from the big boss named Bill, who is never seen (it's a big misstep of the film), but whose presence is felt by the fear he engenders.
The boys are fed coffee and heroin by Nancy (Michele-Barbara Pelletier), the local coffee shop waitress and she's under strict instructions from Fagan, and from her husband Bill, to "keep the boys working," especially Dodge who has a tendency to slack off. Dodge also lures homeless boys into the game in order to support his heroin habit, and on one cold, wet evening he meets the unassuming runaway, Oliver and offers him a place to stay.
Fagan soon recruits Oliver into the prostitution ring. But Oliver's an innocent and so achingly needy that he propositions Dodge several times. Dodge, however, is so caught up in the life of drugs, that all he wants to do is wander through the city's red light district; a true lost and embittered soul. When Oliver is given a chance of a new life with a wealthy senator, he decides to jump at the chance.
Tierney has effectively moved the emphasis of the story away from Oliver, to Dodge and the result is that Dodge is given a rather muddied back-story. Apparently, Dodge has an older brother who eventually arrives on the scene, ostensibly to help his younger brother. But when Dodge demands payment for an evening of talk, the sibling reunion quickly turns ugly and Dodge is left shocked and bereft. As his world spirals out of control, he takes the law into his own hands, while the other characters either suicide or turn to heroin to cope with the grim proceedings.
Stahl as Dodge gives by far the strongest and most freaked-out performance. He really gets to the essence of the character, making us feel his sense of frustration, loss and grief. He even makes us "live" the freezing temperatures by the way he sticks his hands further into his pockets, constantly tugging at his scarf, and, head down, lumbering along the cold, dark streets. It's hard, however, to follow the rush to Oliver, who spends much of the movie looking down at his feet, sulking around with a needy petulance, looking bored with the events as they unfold.
It's all very bleak, depressing, and even unsettling, but this isn't why the film's not that good. The problem is that the movie is far too stagy and pretentious, with scenes that are too stretched out, and camera shots that linger far too long on certain episodes. There's obviously a good story here, and we are given a startlingly realistic insight into how these boys live and survive. But under Tierney's plodding direction, the movie is often downright tedious; it's just so apparent that all we are witnessing is a very young man's passion and fervor for unrelieved and unmitigated misery. Mike Leonard July 05.
Rating:  -
Poor naïve Oliver. Mommy has passed away and he never knew his daddy. After a series of misfortunate events, he has found himself to be a 16 year old orphan/ runaway on the streets of Toronto. Lucky for him, while hanging out in a local café, he is discovered by Dodge, who seems to have a little experience in recognizing poor lost souls with no where to go.
Dodge is rather street wise, after all; he has been pounding the pavement nightly for quite sometime as a hustler himself. He offers Oliver some food and a place to stay, which Oliver gladly accepts.
Dodge and a few of his cohorts live in a ramshackle abandoned building with their "supervisor" Fagin watching there every move. Fagin reports to Bill (whom we never see); who runs his stable of boys & girls with an iron fist.
Dodge also has quite a nasty heroin addiction, which he relies on to get the job done every night. Dodge decides to train Oliver in his wicked ways, which the young Oliver seems more than up to the task of learning.
So is the story of Jacob Tierney's adaptation of the classic Dickens novel "Oliver Twist". This is NOT the Oliver that I remember growing up; but it is still a decent movie nonetheless.
The movie chronicles the lives of these young men & women in a gritty and depressing fashion. The movie centers around Dodge, who is played quite skillfully by Nick Stahl. Oliver (Joshua Close) just happens to be the catalyst that could bring the whole business crashing down.....
Will he survive the clutches of Dodge, Fagin, and Bill? Well, you'd have to watch to find out for yourself.
Dodge himself is quite an interesting character, and we get to find out about his family background and what has led him up to this point. It's quite a downer of a story, but an intriguing one as well.
If you like movies that depict stories of sexual abuse and addiction, then "Twist" should be right up your alley. However, there are scenes in "Twist" (one in particular that is SO disturbing and so pervasive that it's barely watch able) that really make the movie hard to stomach.
The film is finely acted, written, and directed. "Twist" balances a fine line between reality and sickness in our culture. Worth seeing once; but this reviewer would have trouble watching Twist again due to some of it's content (especially the scene mentioned above). Some things, I do not feel need to be depicted just quite yet on film; no matter how brutally honest their intent may be.
Recommended, but only for those audiences who like their movies harsh and unforgiving. By the time Twist has concluded, this reviewer doubts that you'll be asking "Please sir, may I have some more"?
Rating: -
Charles Dickens classic, "Oliver Twist" is given a new one here, setting it in modern times Toronto and the cast being a group if gay hustlers. The format is the same with Fagan as the boys' `Headmaster' and Oliver as the new cherubic, naïve boy who is recruited into the club by the Artful Dodger (Dodge). This film means well, but there is no real substance here, only confused characters. The girlfriends seem to have no place in their world, neither intellectually or sexually and are supportive `Mom' types at best. The ending can be predicted and even when shown with its obvious outcome, the storyline never really fairly delivers on reasons or cause. It was interesting to see that the story could be told without graphic sex or violence, which is a tough to one pull off, but the lasting effect was disappointing. It should have had a better outcome.
Rating: -
I like movies that put a new spin on classic tales, but this one was just okay. Good performances but it lacked a spark. If you are into indie, explicity gay-themed movies, check out NEVERLAND (the gay-themed Peter Pan, NOT the Johnny Depp movie!) or watch FREEWAY (Reese at her trashy best). These movies really do something interesting with the source material - in fact NEVERLAND stays closest to the original while still managing to be completely unique - and the cast is gorgeous.
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