Film Review: Twist
Don’t immediately write Twist off as just another modern re-telling of a classic, only further proof that the film industry is well and truly out of new and fresh ideas. New and fresh is exactly what director Martin Owen achieves with this re-vamped return to everyone’s favourite orphan (sorry Annie).
The cast of Twist featuring Michael Cane, Rita Ora, Sophie Simnett, Lena Headey, Rafferty Law, and Franz Drameh.
From the moment Twist begins, Oliver, who now taking a leaf out of Cher’s book, goes only by Twist, expels the idea that what the audience is about to see is anything even vaguely reminiscent of the book, musical or past movie remakes we have all come to know and love; “no singing, no dancing, definitely no happy ending”. Gloomy, Dickensian London and jaunty tunes about picking a pocket or two have been traded out for parkour, graffiti and bar fights, all excitingly set against a blurred backdrop of neon oranges and greens, with The Fratelli’s ‘Chelsea Dagger’ pulsating in the background.
Through Owen’s eye, Oliver Twist is now a scrappy scoundrel and parkour master with a cheeky smile and a talent for painting and street art. We meet Twist for the first time as he flees from police in an Aladdin-esque chase sequence, in which the audience knows implicitly and immediately that these coppers are no match for the agile Twist, who is always two moves ahead of all he encounters.
Twist appears to float above it all, never taking life or himself too seriously; a tough London lad that never gets hurt because he never allows anyone close enough to hurt him. But this kind of life, perched atop the tallest skyscrapers, watching but never participating, takes its toll. And so, when Twist encounters the jovial Dodge and Batesy, embodied by Rita Ora and Franz Drameh respectively, he cannot help but be enticed by their charm, and drawn into their criminally laced world, in which all you could wish for is a mere reach away. In this world resides too the iconic ringleader Fagin, played by Michael Caine, and Nancy, whose character has perhaps undergone the biggest update of all, shedding her quiet sweetness and instead revealing a punkier, tougher persona, ‘Red’, who suffers no fools and cannot be tamed by anyone. Anyone that is, except the deranged Sikes, a character completely revitalised and charged with a menacing electricity expertly delivered by Lena Headey.
Thievery, murder, and betrayal abound in this constantly swirling mix of smash cuts and fast zooms, imbuing the entire film with its own hyperactive tempo that grows until it comes to a smashing crescendo as we watch to see whether Fagin’s gang will pull off their biggest job yet, an art heist. As is true of any heist in a film, deception, double crosses and a few surprises are peppered throughout this thrilling sequence.
Owen is able to strike a perfect balance of joyfully enmeshing his own artistic liberties within Twist, whilst simultaneously practising fidelity to Dicken’s original themes, and in the process creating something that is completely new altogether, and truly fun to experience.
Twist is now showing in cinemas across Australia from Thursday 29th of April 2021.