Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Roman Polanski
Cast :
Ben Kingsley……….Fagin
Barney Clark……….Oliver Twist
Leanne Rowe……….Nancy
Mark Strong……….Toby Crackit
Jamie Foreman……….Bill Sykes
Harry Eden……….Artful Dodger
Can even the most inspired directing save a movie from lackluster acting? That’s the question that Roman Polanski seems to ask with Oliver Twist, his take on the Charles Dickens classic. While it may seem awkward that a convicted pedophile that has been fleeing prosecution in the U.S for the past several decades would be handed a movie that features children, Polanski has a daft touch and is capable of greatness with the right conditions. With The Pianist he soared to majestic heights, taking home an Oscar for Best Director in the process of making one of 2002’s best movies. And if having a quality story to tell with fantastic scenery makes a movie great, then Oliver Twist is one of 2005’s better movies. Too bad Polanski’s audio/visual sense overwhelms the one where he coaxes something other than a pedestrian performance out of his cast.
And it’s a shame, as on a purely visual level Oliver Twist is quite the sight. Wonderfully shot, turn of the century England has the sort of gritty appeal that Dickens wrote about. Polanski has taken the classic realm and reality of Dickens’ England and brought it to life fantastically. The crew of Oliver Twist has developed scenery and found locations that bring the life into the movie.
It would be one thing for the scenery to merely exist, but Polanski has shot it amazingly well. His shots are framed well, bringing plenty of his trademark style camerawork as well as several new camera tricks to the table. Polanski has gone out of his way to make every scene, every shot, as good as it can be.
But the problem is that no matter how good Polanski sets his story up, no matter how well his scene is shot, the acting from his cast is pedestrian at best. With a true professional like Ben Kingsley in the role of Fagin, one would expect that his talents would elevate the rest of the cast by virtue of his presence but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Barney Clark, in the title role, seems to have two modes: crying and looking cute. While he may do the latter better than some, he does the former in a completely artificial manner. The rest of the cast is not up to par for the material as well; it’s hard to see a great story taken down because of it.
It takes away from a really solid vision of Dickens novel that faithfully follows the original closely. While little things have been changed by Polanski for his vision of Oliver Twist, the film follows the book flawlessly. There are no cute surprises nor any scenes created for inclusion with the tale; the story is kept as is and not spoiled by trying to alter Dickens’ vision.
