TWIST

Canada, 2003, 98 minutes, Colour.
Nick Stahl, Joshua Close, Gary Farmer, Stephen Mc Hattie.
Directed by Jacob Tierney.

Twist is an adaptation of Dickens' novel, Oliver Twist, to Toronto at the beginning of the 21st century. It relocates the action of the novel to a warehouse with a group of male hustlers under the director of Fagin. It is interesting to note that the character of Bill Sykes looms very large in the film but he is never seen on-screen. People have conversations with him on the phone, he is an extraordinary presence of evil - but never seen. The focus of the film is more on the Artful Dodger character, Dodge, played by Nick Stahl (The Man Without a Face, Bully, In the Bedroom, Terminator 3). The film is basically his story, a runaway from home, a heroin addict, a hustler, who befriends Oliver but introduces him into the life of hustling. There is also a Nancy who works at a takeaway food bar, Charlie and Betsy, another hustler and another waitress who fall in love. Gary Farmer (Dead Man) appears as Fagin, a mixture of ruthlessness and sentimentality as he controls the young men. The film doesn't follow through with all the details of the novel. There is no happy reconciliation for Oliver with his family. Rather, he is seen as an orphan, a runaway who enters into the life and encounters a senator. The senator gives some impression that he may be the grandfather of Oliver but this is merely suggested and not followed through.

The film is a small-budget one, is filmed with faded blue and grey colours, a dreary aspect of the city of Toronto in a poor and brutal area. The life of the hustlers is a combination of misery, being forced to be busy, being exhausted back at the centre. The film is more complicated when Dodge's brother comes from Quebec to try to bring him home - with unexpected and violent results.

This is in many ways an ugly film, or at least a film about an ugly world. However, it is also quite ingenious at times in its using of Dickens' plot and characters - and the suggestion that this world of Toronto at the beginning of the 21st century is an equally Dickensian world.

1. The success of the adaptation of Dickens' novel? Audience expectations of characters, situations, issues? How well were the equivalent parallels made with the novel and the film?

2. The city of Toronto, the ugly areas and neighbourhoods, dingy, evil?

3. The framing at beginning and end: the camera looking in the window, the hustler sitting on the bed with his client, Dodge at the beginning, Oliver at the end? The film and the issue of hope? A nihilistic film? No hope for Oliver, for Dodge? Fagin killing himself, Nancy and Bill murdered? Charlie and Betsy surviving? Could Oliver ever escape from the cycle of the hustling? The world of the sub-culture, any good? Or totally destructive?

4. The focus on Dodge rather than on Oliver? Dodge at the start in the room, the client, his going to the takeaway, his interactions with Nancy, his need for money and heroin, the scenes of him shooting up throughout the film? The quarters, his relationship with Fagin, Fagin's brutality towards him when he didn't have the money, tenderness towards him at other times? His relationship with the other young men? His relationship with the absent Bill? His meeting Oliver in the diner, later returning, the discussion, Oliver not having a place to stay, taking him in - in both senses of the word? His mixed motivations? The going out on the game, Dodge and his frank explanations of what Oliver was to do, the initial client and the sexual encounter in the street? His being picked up by the senator's chauffeur, Dodge going with Oliver to watch over him, staying outside the door? Oliver's advances and Dodge's resistance, the car from Quebec and its following him, Fagin guaranteeing that he would get rid of it? Dodge finally deciding to confront the driver, his brother? The story of his past, David and his studies, success, hopes for the future? David's attitude towards Jimmy? Offering him the $300 for the night? Their talking, clash, Dodge running away? The irony of his being picked up, offering a place for the young man, his being bashed and robbed? Fagin and his brutal reception, finding that he had been mugged, helping him? His continually taking the heroin, needing the drugs to go to work? David's return, the bitter confrontation, David and his bitterness and asking Jimmy to show him what his life meant, the suggestion of the sexual encounter? The effect on Dodge, his desperation, returning and finding that Fagin had killed himself? Charlie and Betsy? The news of Nancy's death? His going to Bill's house, the sounds of the television, his killing Bill? Where did he go after this - any future?

5. Oliver and his story, orphan, running away from home, Dodge listening, Oliver and his simplicity, people finding him charming and attractive, his eating, going to the shelter? His agreement to go on the game, Dodge's instruction, the first encounter and his vomiting? Going to the senator, listening to his story (and the suggestions from the novel of Oliver Twist for some kind of connection)? His advances on Dodge, being rebuffed, Dodge's brutality towards him? Fagin and his looking after him, Nancy and her kindness, advising him to ring the senator? The card, his going to telephone? Going to the senator's house, the senator rejecting him? Dodge bashing him? The ending and his taking Dodge's place with the client?

6. The portrait of Fagin, his relationship with the young men, managing the shelter? Subservient to Bill? The phone calls? His liking of the men, yet his brutality when they didn't bring the money? Sentimental towards them? Nancy's death, his shooting himself?

7. Bill, the control, the demands, expectations, faceless and evil off-screen?

8. Nancy, the diner, talking with Dodge and Oliver and the others, the domestic sequences at home, nice, her relationship with Bill, the phone calls? Her liking Dodge, the discussions about Oliver, her warning Oliver to ring the senator, her death?

9. Charlie, his work as a hustler, his love for Betsy, her working in the diner, being absent, the jokes about Charlie having a girlfriend - and Betsy listening to them? Their escape? A possible future?

10. The glimpses of the customers, the senator, his chauffeur? The men picking up Oliver, their demands?

11. The episode with David, his relationship with Jimmy, following him, the discussion, his wanting to vindicate himself and his own choices, their parents and hostility towards Jimmy, his urging Jimmy to better things? Giving him the money? The return, higher money, demanding that he show him what his life and his work was like?

12. The creation of a Dickensian world in 21st century Toronto? The nature of choices, values and morals? Escape or no escape?