Perhaps it will take a school trip to encourage kids to see Oliver Twist, but that's one permission slip parents should sign.
Oliver Twist (2005)
Tomatometer
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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
Seeing Polanski's version of this most Dickensian of all Charles Dickens' tales, I felt full and wanted no more versions (please, sir!), having now seen the definitive one.
While (David) Lean's '48 Twist remains definitive, Polanski offers today's filmgoers a version nearly as rich and evocative.
Roman Polanski's new version finds the humor in Dickens' story without glossing over the essential point that a society must be judged inhumane if its treatment of its most unfortunate members is not humane.
Polanski's Twist is a serious and credible movie with a great many virtues -- gorgeous cinematography and an activist zeal chief among them -- but it's something you watch rather than lose yourself in.
Polanski's film is visually exact and detailed without being too picturesque.
Polanski and company have proven that, once again, great stories never go out of style.
When was the last time you walked out of a Polanski picture talking mostly about the sets and music?
A fifth-grade puppet show of Oliver Twist would have been more watchable. And far less sickening.
...one of Polanski's safest, least distinctive pictures -- just another tasteful run through a story that's already too familiar. Oh well, at least in this one nobody sings.
[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
Kingsley’s Fagin takes us on a fantastic joyride through the sleazy and disease-ridden 19th century London tenderloin and leaves everybody smiling in the end.
Like a Classics Comic Book adaptation of the story--tasteful, subdued and just a bit dull.
Dickens knew that melodrama answers to something permanent in our nature; without it, any version of Oliver Twist draws perilously close to the genteel.
The first question I have is, why? Why would Roman Polanski, one of the most innovative directors of the last half-century, want to adapt a story that has been told again and again?
Fails to topple Lean's untoppable version; still one of the best movies of 2005. Startlingly unemotional, but for the stormy torments behind Fagin's overhanging eyebrows.
Latest News for Oliver Twist
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September 29, 2005:
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