The biggest surprise in Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist" is that there are no surprises. In retelling Charles Dickens' most beloved tale -- with the possible exception of "A Christmas Carol" -- the director relates the familiar story in an all-too-familiar way. Given Polanski's own harrowing childhood in the Polish countryside, surviving the Nazi occupation, one might have hoped that he would use young Oliver's adventures as a penniless orphan adrift in a corrupt and abusive 19th century England as a kind of spiritual autobiography of those years. But no, this latest film adaptation of "Oliver Twist" -- well over 20 film and TV versions going back to 1906 are listed on IMDb -- trudges down the same worn path.
Not that this isn't a respectable production with a fine ensemble cast headed by Ben Kingsley, who manages to make the villainous Fagin a sinister and tragic figure. But the spark that an original point of view might bring to the oft-told tale is missing.
For one of the few times in his career, Polanski has made a family film, and "Oliver Twist" should be promoted as such. Certainly the film will work best with young viewers unexposed to the story. With Polanski's name as a selling point, the film should produce decent boxoffice numbers around the world.
When Dickens penned "Oliver Twist", he was filled with moral outrage over the social oppression he saw everywhere. But we can no longer react to these revelations in the same manner as his early readers. Thus, the scenes with the awful Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) in the workhouse, where Oliver comes at age 9, or the sham justice meted out by a foul-tempered judge now play as comedy. Indeed, Polanski encourages his actors to ham up these scenes. Simply put, these depicitons of social injustice have lost their bite.
Barney Clark does an admirable job of playing the naive though plucky youth, finding more adventures than he might wish in the mean streets of the city of London. The film's other child actor, Harry Eden, has boisterous fun with the Artful Dodger.
The story, of course, has two villains. Kingsley's Fagin is not the same man Ron Moody played in the Oscar-winning musical "Oliver!" Kingsley eschews the comedy (though not the wit) to let us see a sly man dedicated to crime and the exploitation of children and women. And Jamie Foreman's Bill Sykes is a man of violence with a filthy tempter and a good word for nobody. His is, alas, the most contemporary of the film's characters.
In truth, some of Dickens' melodrama is crude and unconvincing. Oliver's surprising upward mobility, owing to little more than the fact he is a cute kid, feels less likely than ever, a romantic vision imposed on the tale to obscure the darker realities of the age.
Allan Starski's sets, build in the Czech Republic's Barrandov Studios, are not terribly convincing, either. They have the look and feel of sets, sometimes with a painting of St. Paul's dome off in the distance. All other technical contributions are solid if unexciting.
OLIVER TWIST
TriStar Pictures
Credits:
Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Based on the novel by: Charles Dickens
Producers: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Roman Polanski
Director of photography: Pawel Edelman
Production designer: Allan Starski
Music: Rachel Portman
Costumes: Anna B. Sheppard
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Fagin: Ben Kingsley
Oliver: Barney Clark
Bill Sykes: Jamie Foreman
Artful Dodger: Harry Eden
Nancy: Leanne Rowe, Charlie: Lewis Chase
Mr Brownlow: Edward Hardwicke
Mr. Bumble: Jeremy Swift
Toby: Mark Strong
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 132 minutes...
Not that this isn't a respectable production with a fine ensemble cast headed by Ben Kingsley, who manages to make the villainous Fagin a sinister and tragic figure. But the spark that an original point of view might bring to the oft-told tale is missing.
For one of the few times in his career, Polanski has made a family film, and "Oliver Twist" should be promoted as such. Certainly the film will work best with young viewers unexposed to the story. With Polanski's name as a selling point, the film should produce decent boxoffice numbers around the world.
When Dickens penned "Oliver Twist", he was filled with moral outrage over the social oppression he saw everywhere. But we can no longer react to these revelations in the same manner as his early readers. Thus, the scenes with the awful Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) in the workhouse, where Oliver comes at age 9, or the sham justice meted out by a foul-tempered judge now play as comedy. Indeed, Polanski encourages his actors to ham up these scenes. Simply put, these depicitons of social injustice have lost their bite.
Barney Clark does an admirable job of playing the naive though plucky youth, finding more adventures than he might wish in the mean streets of the city of London. The film's other child actor, Harry Eden, has boisterous fun with the Artful Dodger.
The story, of course, has two villains. Kingsley's Fagin is not the same man Ron Moody played in the Oscar-winning musical "Oliver!" Kingsley eschews the comedy (though not the wit) to let us see a sly man dedicated to crime and the exploitation of children and women. And Jamie Foreman's Bill Sykes is a man of violence with a filthy tempter and a good word for nobody. His is, alas, the most contemporary of the film's characters.
In truth, some of Dickens' melodrama is crude and unconvincing. Oliver's surprising upward mobility, owing to little more than the fact he is a cute kid, feels less likely than ever, a romantic vision imposed on the tale to obscure the darker realities of the age.
Allan Starski's sets, build in the Czech Republic's Barrandov Studios, are not terribly convincing, either. They have the look and feel of sets, sometimes with a painting of St. Paul's dome off in the distance. All other technical contributions are solid if unexciting.
OLIVER TWIST
TriStar Pictures
Credits:
Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Based on the novel by: Charles Dickens
Producers: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Roman Polanski
Director of photography: Pawel Edelman
Production designer: Allan Starski
Music: Rachel Portman
Costumes: Anna B. Sheppard
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Fagin: Ben Kingsley
Oliver: Barney Clark
Bill Sykes: Jamie Foreman
Artful Dodger: Harry Eden
Nancy: Leanne Rowe, Charlie: Lewis Chase
Mr Brownlow: Edward Hardwicke
Mr. Bumble: Jeremy Swift
Toby: Mark Strong
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 132 minutes...
- 11/18/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The biggest surprise in Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist" is that there are no surprises. In retelling Charles Dickens' most beloved tale -- with the possible exception of "A Christmas Carol" -- the director relates the familiar story in an all-too-familiar way. Given Polanski's own harrowing childhood in the Polish countryside, surviving the Nazi occupation, one might have hoped that he would use young Oliver's adventures as a penniless orphan adrift in a corrupt and abusive 19th century England as a kind of spiritual autobiography of those years. But no, this latest film adaptation of "Oliver Twist" -- well over 20 film and TV versions going back to 1906 are listed on IMDb -- trudges down the same worn path.
Not that this isn't a respectable production with a fine ensemble cast headed by Ben Kingsley, who manages to make the villainous Fagin a sinister and tragic figure. But the spark that an original point of view might bring to the oft-told tale is missing.
For one of the few times in his career, Polanski has made a family film, and "Oliver Twist" should be promoted as such. Certainly the film will work best with young viewers unexposed to the story. With Polanski's name as a selling point, the film should produce decent boxoffice numbers around the world.
When Dickens penned "Oliver Twist", he was filled with moral outrage over the social oppression he saw everywhere. But we can no longer react to these revelations in the same manner as his early readers. Thus, the scenes with the awful Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) in the workhouse, where Oliver comes at age 9, or the sham justice meted out by a foul-tempered judge now play as comedy. Indeed, Polanski encourages his actors to ham up these scenes. Simply put, these depicitons of social injustice have lost their bite.
Barney Clark does an admirable job of playing the naive though plucky youth, finding more adventures than he might wish in the mean streets of the city of London. The film's other child actor, Harry Eden, has boisterous fun with the Artful Dodger.
The story, of course, has two villains. Kingsley's Fagin is not the same man Ron Moody played in the Oscar-winning musical "Oliver!" Kingsley eschews the comedy (though not the wit) to let us see a sly man dedicated to crime and the exploitation of children and women. And Jamie Foreman's Bill Sykes is a man of violence with a filthy tempter and a good word for nobody. His is, alas, the most contemporary of the film's characters.
In truth, some of Dickens' melodrama is crude and unconvincing. Oliver's surprising upward mobility, owing to little more than the fact he is a cute kid, feels less likely than ever, a romantic vision imposed on the tale to obscure the darker realities of the age.
Allan Starski's sets, build in the Czech Republic's Barrandov Studios, are not terribly convincing, either. They have the look and feel of sets, sometimes with a painting of St. Paul's dome off in the distance. All other technical contributions are solid if unexciting.
OLIVER TWIST
TriStar Pictures
Credits:
Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Based on the novel by: Charles Dickens
Producers: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Roman Polanski
Director of photography: Pawel Edelman
Production designer: Allan Starski
Music: Rachel Portman
Costumes: Anna B. Sheppard
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Fagin: Ben Kingsley
Oliver: Barney Clark
Bill Sykes: Jamie Foreman
Artful Dodger: Harry Eden
Nancy: Leanne Rowe, Charlie: Lewis Chase
Mr Brownlow: Edward Hardwicke
Mr. Bumble: Jeremy Swift
Toby: Mark Strong
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 132 minutes...
Not that this isn't a respectable production with a fine ensemble cast headed by Ben Kingsley, who manages to make the villainous Fagin a sinister and tragic figure. But the spark that an original point of view might bring to the oft-told tale is missing.
For one of the few times in his career, Polanski has made a family film, and "Oliver Twist" should be promoted as such. Certainly the film will work best with young viewers unexposed to the story. With Polanski's name as a selling point, the film should produce decent boxoffice numbers around the world.
When Dickens penned "Oliver Twist", he was filled with moral outrage over the social oppression he saw everywhere. But we can no longer react to these revelations in the same manner as his early readers. Thus, the scenes with the awful Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) in the workhouse, where Oliver comes at age 9, or the sham justice meted out by a foul-tempered judge now play as comedy. Indeed, Polanski encourages his actors to ham up these scenes. Simply put, these depicitons of social injustice have lost their bite.
Barney Clark does an admirable job of playing the naive though plucky youth, finding more adventures than he might wish in the mean streets of the city of London. The film's other child actor, Harry Eden, has boisterous fun with the Artful Dodger.
The story, of course, has two villains. Kingsley's Fagin is not the same man Ron Moody played in the Oscar-winning musical "Oliver!" Kingsley eschews the comedy (though not the wit) to let us see a sly man dedicated to crime and the exploitation of children and women. And Jamie Foreman's Bill Sykes is a man of violence with a filthy tempter and a good word for nobody. His is, alas, the most contemporary of the film's characters.
In truth, some of Dickens' melodrama is crude and unconvincing. Oliver's surprising upward mobility, owing to little more than the fact he is a cute kid, feels less likely than ever, a romantic vision imposed on the tale to obscure the darker realities of the age.
Allan Starski's sets, build in the Czech Republic's Barrandov Studios, are not terribly convincing, either. They have the look and feel of sets, sometimes with a painting of St. Paul's dome off in the distance. All other technical contributions are solid if unexciting.
OLIVER TWIST
TriStar Pictures
Credits:
Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Based on the novel by: Charles Dickens
Producers: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Roman Polanski
Director of photography: Pawel Edelman
Production designer: Allan Starski
Music: Rachel Portman
Costumes: Anna B. Sheppard
Editor: Herve de Luze
Cast:
Fagin: Ben Kingsley
Oliver: Barney Clark
Bill Sykes: Jamie Foreman
Artful Dodger: Harry Eden
Nancy: Leanne Rowe, Charlie: Lewis Chase
Mr Brownlow: Edward Hardwicke
Mr. Bumble: Jeremy Swift
Toby: Mark Strong
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 132 minutes...
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