Moonlighting (1982)

Jeremy Irons gives a sleek, subtle, and gripping performance in the little-known gem Moonlighting (no relation to the popular TV series). Nowak (Irons) leads a small team of Polish building contractors, hired by a wealthy Pole to illegally refurbish his London home. They slip into England under false pretenses and squat in the house as they work on it--but shortly after they arrive, the military take over Poland and declare martial law (this real event happened in December of 1981). Only Nowak speaks English, so only he knows this has happened; fearing that if the others find out, they'll stop working, he decides not to tell them. As he starts stealing and scamming to stretch their rapidly vanishing money, Nowak grows increasingly paranoid and mentally fragile. Moonlighting is a political allegory and a psychological portrait, but thanks to Irons' sympathetic performance, the movie is also rivetingly suspenseful. Every time Nowak shoplifts, the tension--all the more intense for being such an ordinary circumstance--will make your skin crawl. Written and directed by Jerzy Skolimowski (who co-wrote the screenplay for Roman Polanski's debut film Knife in the Water), Moonlighting is a deceptively simple and potent film that deserves a wider audience. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

Tedioius

Jeremy Irons was his usual great, and it's an interesting story line. However, two hours of listening to one person's voice was more than low-budget. As my son said, "I want those two boring hours of my life back." December 26, 2004

The Silence of the Exile

Jeremy Irons plays a man in a state of exile, a Pole living in England. He has not altogether left his country, he's only come to England to work as a go-between who hires cheap Polish laborers to do jobs for frugal English clients. Irons has a wife back home in Poland but makes more money in England than he ever could at home so he stays and grows ever more isolated from his homeland. When a new batch of workers arrive he greets them at the airport and escorts them to their living quarters and tends to their every need. This is the status quo he lives in. And one suspects he prefers stable old England to the instability of his homeland. His life is secure if at times lonely. We see his wife only as a picture that he has pinned to the wall above his bed. One day he notices that events in Poland have taken a turn for the worse. He knows if he tells the men this news they will want to return immediately so he hides the newspaper deciding to hide the news from the men as long as it takes to finish the job. This dishonesty is nothing less than a betrayal. And he knows it. We know this act is despicable and yet we also know what motivates it. Irons wants to preserve the only order he knows. He is not necessarily close to any of the men nor does he share any sense of community with them nor does he express any sort of sentiment about Poland, he is a loner and yet to preserve his sense of order he is forced into this treachery. And once he begins lying to the men his treachery knows no bounds--he does whatever is necessary to preserve the illusion to his men(and himself) that things are just fine. It is only a matter of time til the inevitable confrontation will come when his men find out that he has lied to them. And the confrontation like everything else in this film is subtle and memorable and poignant. Along the way we hear Irons thoughts about what he is doing and it is facinating to see this man do what he does all the while knowing full well what the consequences will be. Powerful acting performance by Irons as this man whose loyalties are no longer certain. February 15, 2003

Superb Independent British Film

Despite the people who think this film has anything to do with the TV show, I believe that this film will be remembered as Jeremy Irons best work to date. It is an understated and fascinating film about 4 Polish workers who come to London to renovate (illegally) their boss' condo. This was made in 1982 after the Soviet crackdown on Solidarity. If the first 10 minutes of the film (masterfully directed) don't hook you then you'll be missing one of the best films made in the 1980's. Read ANY film critic's review. January 16, 1999

More reviews at Amazon.com ...