What this low budget film has going for it is a terrific performance by Nick Stahl. He plays Dodge, a young and straight hustler who works the streets in a gay area of Toronto. Dodge does drugs to quell the emotional pain of having to work at something so debasing. He spends his time alternating between walking the streets, living with fellow hustlers in a dilapidated loft, talking with a diner waitress (well played by Michele-Barbara Pelletier), and teaching a new recruit named Oliver the ins and outs of the "business".
The script is not well written. Questions are left unanswered. And there's lots of downtime wherein not much happens. The result is considerable tedium and boredom, not just for the characters but for viewers as well. The story is depressing because the characters are all so hopeless.
Another problem here is that the concept is not original. We've seen all this before in other films, like "My Own Private Idaho". I'm not sure what the point of "Twist" is, apart from being a contemporary update of the Oliver Twist story. I do like the music at the film's start, and it recurs off and on throughout.
Low-key, and very slowly paced, with long camera "takes", this bleak story would have been better with a little more substantive action. Other than Nick Stahl's fine performance, the movie does have atmosphere, albeit dreary, but not much else.
The script is not well written. Questions are left unanswered. And there's lots of downtime wherein not much happens. The result is considerable tedium and boredom, not just for the characters but for viewers as well. The story is depressing because the characters are all so hopeless.
Another problem here is that the concept is not original. We've seen all this before in other films, like "My Own Private Idaho". I'm not sure what the point of "Twist" is, apart from being a contemporary update of the Oliver Twist story. I do like the music at the film's start, and it recurs off and on throughout.
Low-key, and very slowly paced, with long camera "takes", this bleak story would have been better with a little more substantive action. Other than Nick Stahl's fine performance, the movie does have atmosphere, albeit dreary, but not much else.