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Oliver Twist (2005)
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Reviews Counted:133
Fresh:78
Rotten:55
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Polanski's version of Dickens' classic won't have audiences asking for more because while polished and directed with skill, the movie's a very impersonal experience.
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Sep 23, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $1,987,287
Synopsis: Acclaimed director Roman Polanski turns a dark eye toward the classic Charles Dickens novel OLIVER TWIST, about a charming orphan boy (Barney Clark) whose life seems to depend solely on the whims... Acclaimed director Roman Polanski turns a dark eye toward the classic Charles Dickens novel OLIVER TWIST, about a charming orphan boy (Barney Clark) whose life seems to depend solely on the whims of fate. Abandoned early in life, Oliver first seems doomed to life in a workhouse, where he is farmed out to a local undertaker where he regularly is underfed and mistreated. Hoping to improve his lot in life, Oliver runs away to London, where he falls in with a gang of petty criminals led by the fence Fagin (Ben Kingsley) and the young pickpocket the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden). His new situation seems like relief, until he meets Mr. Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke), who sees Oliver's true character and potential and seems determined to sway destiny. Despite his innocent performance, eleven-year old Barney Clark was already a seasoned professional when Polanski recruited him to play Oliver, including studies at the Anna Scher Theatre and performances in the film THE LAWLESS HEART and British television dramas FOYLE'S WAR and THE BRIEF. Also of note is the moving score by award-winning composer Rachel Portman, which brings to life the gritty life of Victorian London. Polanski can now add OLIVER TWIST to his array of classic films, including THE PIANIST and CHINATOWN, which forever will shape cinematic vision. [More]
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jamie Foreman, Harry Eden, Leanne Rowe
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jamie Foreman, Harry Eden, Leanne Rowe, Barney Clark, Edward Hardwicke, Mark Strong, Ian McNeice
Director: Roman Polanski
Director: Roman Polanski
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde
Composer: Rachel Portman
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
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Reviews for Oliver Twist
[T]he maddening thing is not just that we hardly need another movie adaptation of [Oliver Twist] ... but that there are other Dickens books that haven't been given the major movie treatment that would better suit Polanski's temperament.
[Polanski] takes the Dickens that screenwriter Ronald Harwood has faithfully transcribed and doesn’t so much bring it to life as turn it into a handsomely mounted still life
It's noble, high-minded and safe, and I can't help thinking that I would have preferred an audacious but honest failure.
Dickens knew that melodrama answers to something permanent in our nature; without it, any version of Oliver Twist draws perilously close to the genteel.
Any parents thinking of bringing their young kids to this very-hard-PG-13 downer have hereby been warned.
Please sir, can I have some more... levity with my poverty and abject misery. This bleak story could benefit from some musical numbers to break up the monotony of sorrow.
Oliver Twist is a rarity, as far as Polanski films go, in that it is just an OK movie.
Dickens' continuing relevance is less a testament to his genius than to the endurance and recurrence of the problems he took as his focus.
The idea of Ben Kingsley as Fagin is such an obvious fit that he isn't surprising, nor are his acting choices
Yet given previous versions... there ought to be something new here to warrant retelling. There isn’t.
Plods along with the dutiful, near-reverent air of an annual Christmas sermon.
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