| Moonlighting | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jerzy Skolimowski |
| Written by | Jerzy Skolimowski |
| Produced by | Mark Shivas Jerzy Skolimowski Michael White |
| Starring | Jeremy Irons |
| Cinematography | Tony Pierce-Roberts |
| Edited by | Barrie Vince |
| Music by | Stanley Myers |
Production companies | Michael White Productions Channel Four Films |
| Distributed by | Miracle Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | English Polish |
| Budget | £596,000[1] |
Moonlighting is a 1982 British drama film written and directed byJerzy Skolimowski. It is set in the early 1980s at the time of theSolidarity protests in Poland. It starsJeremy Irons as Nowak, a Polish builder leading a team working illegally in London.
Nowak is a master electrician, who arrives in London from Warsaw in December 1981 with three workmen who know no English. He understands the language but not the inhabitants. Their task is to gut and renovate a house, for which they have brought what tools they can carry, while Nowak has cash to buy materials. Since the whole operation is illegal, Nowak keeps them working indoors while he goes out to get food and supplies.
As his money runs out, he takes to stealing so that the four can survive. In the meantime, Poland is undergoing the traumas of demonstrations and strikes followed by the declaration ofmartial law, the banning of Solidarity, and mass arrests. Nowak conceals all this from the men in order to finish the job. With no money left, they have a six-hour walk to the airport and a flight home to an uncertain future.
It was entered into the1982 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the award forBest Screenplay.[2]
Roger Ebert gave it four stars out of four[3] and included it in his list of Best Movies of 1982.Gene Siskel called it his favorite movie of 1982.[4]Vincent Canby, inThe New York Times, calledMoonlighting "immensely rewarding". He added: "It may be a coincidence – maybe not – that two of the best films ever made about exile have been made by Polish directors", the other beingPolanski'sThe Tenant (1976).[5]Dave Kehr ofThe Chicago Reader called it "a profound, gripping comedy of terror and isolation, oppression and entrapment" withJeremy Irons delivering "a performance worthy ofChaplin."[6] He would later hail it as a "masterpiece."[7]
Allmovie gaveMoonlighting four out of five stars.[8] On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,100% of 10 critics' reviews are positive.[9]
