‘Twist’ again

For a director, adapting a literary classic can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have a built-in audience and story. But, the absence of risk can induce a director to go on cruise control and produce a work of towering mediocrity.

Roman Polanski’s excellent version of Charles Dickens’ classic "Oliver Twist" manages to avoid the usual pitfalls of such a venture. It is whimsical when it should be and dark when it should be. It does veer a little too close for comfort to "Masterpiece Theater" but manages to avoid that long-running PBS show’s trademark reverence and occasional bouts of dullness.

For those of you not familiar with the novel or its many film adaptations, including the 1968 Best Picture winner "Oliver!," here is a brief synopsis: Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is a young orphan living in a workhouse in England in the early 19th century. After drawing the short straw, he must ask the workhouse master for more gruel after he has had his portion. This goes very badly and Oliver is forced to leave. He then works for an undertaker, which also goes badly.

Oliver runs away to London only to end up with a gang of youthful pickpockets and their leader, the wily, up-in-years Fagin (Ben Kingsley).

While striving to remain faithful to the source material, yet not limited by the same, Polanski seems to go for authenticity in period detail. He succeeds beautifully. This approach serves to emphasize the author’s gift as a social commentator and a novelist who was able to create rich, multidimensional characters and gripping storylines.

Polanski is helped by a textured, almost subtle score by the prolific Rachel Portman and too many members of his technical crew to mention in this brief review.

He is also aided by a superb cast that includes one of Kingsley’s best performances since his Oscar win for "Gandhi" more than 20 years ago. Sir Ben avoids making Fagin the charming caricature he often ends up in the hands of lesser actors.

Polanski, who won a best director Oscar three years ago for "The Pianist," seems back in form with "Oliver Twist." And both filmgoers and filmmakers are better off as a result.

Oliver Twist
PG-13
In area theatres Thursday
Three and a half out of four

Recommended Rental

The Interpreter
PG-13
Available Tuesday

Thirty years after helming the paranoid spy thriller "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway – both at their respective peaks – Sidney Pollack returns to the genre with "The Interpreter."

Nicole Kidman stars as a United Nations’ interpreter from a fictional South African country who overhears a plot to kill that country’s tyrannical ruler. Sean Penn plays the Secret Service agent who must figure out if she is on the level or masking a more sinister involvement. It also stars indie-film babe and occasional mainstream slummer Catherine Keener as Penn’s partner.