In the last ten or so years, there has been a rash of movies starring young, white, straight-seeming actors portraying bedraggled streetwise hustlers, with all scenarios (it would seem) stemming from Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho". This one has the conceit of being a gay updating of Dickens (!) with Nick Stahl as sort of an Artful Dodger of Queer Toronto. The trouble with "Twist" is...that's the only twist, and it isn't a groundbreaking one. These kids, who seem to turn tricks for coffee, cigarettes and the occasional needle, have nothing much to offer us except their names. We see the seedy side of life yet we're given little explanation why Stahl and his friends are so belligerent against hope, without any imagination or the drive to get out and succeed. *1/2 from ****
Review of Twist
