Jerzy Skolimowski Movies
Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski is one of the most original and innovative of the eastern European filmmakers. He is also one of the few to find success in the West. As a youth, the talented Skolimowski published several short stories, two poetry volumes, and was a jazz musician. At the University of Warsaw, he studied anthropology, history, and literature. He entered films after a chance encounter with renowned director Andrzej Wajda. Skolimowski helped him write the script for Innocent Sorcerers (1960). Then, with Wajda's help, he enrolled in the Film School at Lodz where he and classmate Roman Polanski wrote the script for the latter's debut feature Knife in the Water (1962). It took Skolimowski four years to make his own first feature, Identification Marks: None (1964), a combination of several short student films starring himself as an anti-hero -- a figure that would appear in many subsequent films, which centered on his society's youthful outsiders, and contained strong political messages as in Hands Up! (1967), an anti-Stalinist film that was banned and not shown in the West until 1981 at Cannes. He gained international renown for his 1967 film Le Depart, which won the Golden Bear award at that year's Berlin Film Festival. An invitation to make a western European film The Adventures of Gerard a big-budget British-Swiss production that featured an all-star cast ensued. Unfortunately, the film was neither indicative of the director's real talent, nor was it commercially successful. In subsequent films Skolimowski has matured into a formidable talent with works such as Deep End (1970), and The Shout (1978). His most commercially successful film is Moonlighting (1982), a penetrating look into the origins of political repression inspired by the declaration of martial law in Poland in December 1981. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2008
A small town hospital worker who witnessed a brutal rape becomes obsessed with the victim after she lands a job as a nurse at the same hospital where he works, but how far will he go before he finally loses control? Leon Okrasa was there when a young woman named Anna was viciously violated. He works at a hospital in Poland, and when Anna is hired in as a nurse Leon soon finds his fixation taking over every aspect of his life. One night, after climbing into Anna's apartment though an open window, Leon sits on the edge of her bed, watching silently as she sleeps. What happens next only Leon can say. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kinga Preiss, Artur Steranko, (more)
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Vincent Cassel star in this David Cronenberg's thriller concerning a London midwife who unwittingly stumbles into a clandestine Russian sex trafficking ring. An unidentified Russian teen has been rushed to a London hospital after going into labor. Though midwife Anna Khitrova (Watts) does manage to deliver a healthy baby girl, the newborn's mother dies tragically during delivery. But the deceased mother's secrets did not die with her, because she has left behind a diary. Determined to ensure the newborn is placed with her rightful family, Anna attempts to read the diary and discovers a business card for a local restaurant therein. Upon visiting the restaurant Anna is greeted by kindly owner Semyon (Mueller-Stahl), who generously offers to translate it for her. But Semyon is not what he appears to be, and before long Anna begins to fear that the child could be in great danger. Semyon admits to Anna that the diary contains information about his son Kirill (Cassell) that could land the volatile offspring in jail despite the fact that Kirill is at heart a good person. As the truth begins to unfold and Anna begins to believe that Kirill and his driver Nikolai (Mortensen) - an ambitious driver seeking to ascent the ranks of the notorious Russian mafia - mean the baby harm, an underworld storm begins to brew that could consume all involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, (more)
For his sophomore feature film effort, visual artist Julian Schnabel chronicles the life of one of Cuba's most charismatic literary voices, the late Reinaldo Arenas. Working with Arenas' friends and family, Schnabel recounts the author's impoverished rural upbringing and the intense love and support he receives from his mother (played by the director's wife, Olatz Lopez Garmendia). As a young man, Arenas (Javier Bardem) is singled out by his teachers and encouraged to further his skills as a writer -- no easy task, considering the Castro regime's censorship of any work considered to be subversive or anti-authoritarian. Still, the author manages to smuggle his work out of the country through friends, who arrange for one of his novels to be published in France. Not only persecuted for his creative beliefs, the openly gay Arenas is jailed on a bogus sex charge; he escapes internment only to be captured and persecuted later for his contraband dispatches. In 1980, Arenas is finally allowed to leave Cuba for the United States, where he achieves freedom of expression but not prosperity. Schnabel's first film was another portrait of an artist, 1996's Basquiat; Bardem made his name in several of director Pedro Almodovar's Spanish-language productions. Before Night Falls premiered at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, where it received the Best Actor and Grand Special Jury prizes, and made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Bardem would go on to receive a host of accolades, including an eventual Best Actor nomination at the 2001 Academy Awards. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, (more)
Mika Kaurismaki directed this British-French-Finnish romantic comedy adapted from Richard Rayner's autobiographical novel about a series of Hollywood misadventures. Vacationing in the North of England, aspiring Los Angeles actress Barbara (Vinessa Shaw) stops briefly in a village where she meets town undertaker and obit writer Richard (David Tennant) -- who just can't stop thinking about her. Flying to California, Richard arrives at the Japanese restaurant where Barbara is a waitress, and a relationship begins -- while Richard learns about Hollywood at the hands of various hustlers and agents. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, (more)
This quirky science fiction comedy is a characteristic feature by iconoclastic director Tim Burton, known to moviegoers for Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The storyline affectionately harkens back to the deadpan sincerity of such '50s and '60s science-fiction films as The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds. Flying saucers have been reliably seen over the capitals of the world, and the whole world awaits with bated breath to see what will transpire. Among those waiting is the President of the United States (Jack Nicholson), who is assured by his science advisor (Pierce Brosnan) that the coming aliens are utterly peaceful. This advice is hotly contested by the military (led by Rod Steiger), who advices the President to annihilate them. When the aliens land, they are seen to be green, garish, and very cheerful. But appearances prove deceiving when the "friendly" aliens abruptly disintegrate the entire U.S. Congress. Hollywood notables appear in vast quantities in roles (and sub-plots) of all sizes in this zany feature. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, (more)
- 1993
In a little town by the sea, Mark (Joseph Kay) is preparing a production of a play by an anonymous author. He is an actor and director, and will be appearing in the play. When his brother Matthew (John Yorick) appears in town, something about the situation makes him very uncomfortable; it turns out that Matthew is the play's author. The two brothers aimlessly argue, go about their lives, have brief liaisons with local girls, and generally behave the way brothers of a similar age do. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Based on the novel by Ivan Turgenev, this drama tells of a young Russian noble during the mid 19th century who, although engaged to a young pastry chef, falls for a seductive married noblewoman who has arranged to buy his estate. Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski and Valeria Golino star in this period piece. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
- 1987
Consumed by grief when his father is felled by a heart attack, 11-year-old Obie (Ricky Busker) runs away from his white, upper-class surroundings. He ends up in a particularly dismal Chicago ghetto neighborhood where, after enduring a beating administered by gang members, he is befriended by streetwise black youth Jeremy "Scam" Henderson (Darius McCrary). The two become partners in crime, leading to a deadly situation involving a pair of professional hit men. Just when it seems things can't get any worse, they do. Robert Prosky co-stars as a slimy pawnbroker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricky Busker, Darius McCrary, (more)
This psychodrama is set in New Zealand during the 1880s and is based on the true story of an orphaned 18-year-old who marries a cruel, much-older man. He constantly abuses her and keeps her under his thumb until she snaps and using hypnotism, kills him. Later she is tried in court. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, John Lithgow, (more)
The fancy footwork and star appeal of Gregory Hines as Raymond, an exiled American, and the powerful grace of Mikhail Baryshnikov as Nikolai, a defector, combine with a great production design to carry this otherwise thinly-stretched tale of intrigue. With a stellar supporting cast (Isabella Rossellini as Raymond's wife, Helen Mirren as Nikolai's lover, and Jerzy Skolimowski, the Polish director, as a wily KGB agent), the film has a few excellent moments. Nikolai has defected from the former USSR some time in the past. While on a trip, his plane spectacularly crashes on a runway in Siberia. Trapped in the country he had escaped, he is brought to stay with Raymond, an American who defected during the Vietnam war. Nikolai desperately wants to get out of the country, but the Russians have other plans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, (more)
Before entering this story of a battle between the ostensible forces of good over evil, viewers should know that a lightship is a floating lighthouse, anchored in dangerous waters to warn other ships away. The German-American Captain Miller (Klaus Maria Brandauer) is in charge of one such lightship and is haunted by the memory of leaving some Americans to die at sea in World War II while he chose to go after a German U-boat. Miller was free of all wrong-doing technically, but he cannot forget the results of his decision. One night, with his son illegally on board, Miller takes on the sailors of another boat before a severe storm hits -- a mistake. The rescued men are modern-day pirates, gang members out to meet another ship and pick up some illicit cargo. From the moment they are taken on board, the thugs and their leader Caspary (Robert Duvall) are at war with the crew and Captain Miller for control of the lightship. This story was adapted from a novella by Siegfried Lenz, and both Brandauer and Duvall give stellar performances in their dueling roles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Klaus Maria Brandauer, (more)
- 1984
Alex Rodak (Michael York) is a Polish director in exile in London with his family, which includes an older teenage son Adam (Michael Lyndon) who is struggling with an identity crisis, his wife (Joanna Szerzerbic), and another son. Rodak is in the throes of putting together a major show about Poland and the politics of exile at a West End theater. His single-minded determination to succeed causes him to take advantage of others, and because of his need for backing, he turns to a low-life businessman (John Hurt) to bail him out. His wife is anything but happy about his behavior and dislikes this last decision even more. On the opposite end of the spectrum stands Adam, who is disillusioned with his father's drive to succeed at all costs (the father does receive a few awards) and who longs to go back to his roots -- in Warsaw. The story jumps from one scene to the next with some fantasy segments and not always enough connecting narrative. Otherwise, this is an interesting study of how a father and son become alienated in a conflict between cultural identity and its exploitation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael York, Janna Szerzerbic, (more)
Jeremy Irons portrays Nowak, one of four Polish laborers, living in England. In exchange for a place to stay, Irons and his buddies -- none of whom have British work permits -- agree to renovate their landlord's flat within a limited time-frame. Despite their hectic schedule, the boys agree never to work on Sunday: this is the day that they communicate with their loved ones in Poland. On one such Sunday, however, the Soviets declare martial law in Poland, cutting off all telephone and telegraph service to the outside world. Nowak, the only one of the four who speaks English, learns of the turmoil in Poland before his friends do; he decides to keep the news secret, rather than jeopardize their living arrangements. When the flow of money from home ceases, Nowak takes to stealing to finance the renovation project. He pushes his friends mercilessly to make sure the project is completed on time, secretly burning their letters so that they remain in the dark about the Soviet incursion upon their native soil. When they do find out, they physically vent their anger upon Nowak, perceiving him to be as much an enemy and oppressor as the Soviets. This is clearly the allegorical point that director Jerzy Skolimowski is hoping to make in Moonlighting; wisely, he avoids conveying his message in fluent tract, relating his story with generous doses of humor and irony. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski, (more)
- 1981
- R
Bruno Ganz plays a West German journalist whose frequent assignments to war-torn nations have left him jaundiced. He is assigned to cover the civil war in Beirut. The combination of his harrowing experiences on the job and his after-hours relationship with widow Hannah Schygulla affects Ganz deeply, in spite of the wall he's built around himself. He suffers a crisis of conscience when he is forced to commit himself to someone--and something--for the first time in his life. The plot of Circle of Deceit was based on the reminiscences of novelist Nicolas Born; the picture's realism is grotesquely enhanced by the decision to film on location in Beirut, surrounding the actors with genuine wartime carnage--bodies and all. Originally titled Die Falschung, Circle of Deceit is not a comfortable experience, but few will stop watching once the film has started. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruno Ganz, Hanna Schygulla, (more)
- 1978
- R
An asylum director begins telling a visitor to a cricket game the story of one of his "better" patients, Crossley (Alan Bates) who is able to compete. Some time previously, Crossley accosted Anthony (John Hurt), a composer, just after church and was for some reason invited to dinner. Once at the composer's home, he tells the story of his unusual upbringing among Australian Aborigines, and of the awful and strange gifts this has left him with. Among them is the ability to bring about another's death by using a certain kind of shout. The next morning, he begins to weave an erotic spell on the composer's wife Rachel (Susannah York), and then proves his killing ability on a sheep in a field. His influence increasingly disrupts their peaceful lives, until in a confrontation, the composer finds a way to best Crossley - but which results in his being placed in a mental institution. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Susannah York, (more)
- 1972
Based on a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, this English-language satirical drama details the experiences of Frank (John Moulder Brown), a young orphan who finds himself deep in the romantic clutches of his uncle's sensual wife. After Frank's parents die, he goes to live with his aunt Martha (Gina Lollabrigida) and uncle Charles (David Niven). Sexy Martha entices Frank into her embrace then wants him to kill her husband so that they can live off of his money. Frank wouldn't mind so much, but he really likes his uncle. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
- 1972
This ironic Polish film tells the story of a charming scoundrel. Marek is a high-school dropout and a bit of a hoodlum. Still, he is quite charming. He earns his money by taking pictures and is not above using some of them for blackmail. After he and his girlfriend witness a collision between a child on a sled and a hit-and-run driver, the opportunistic Marek comes up with a worthy scheme. To re-create the mishap to his advantage, he secures a doll to a similar sled and rigs it up to be hit by a car while he photographs the scene. Sure enough, the car drives away from the scene, and Marek has a blackmail photo. The payoff Marek wants is modest enough: he only wants to borrow the owner's car for a few days. It is with this car that Marek is served his ironically tragic comeuppance. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
John Moulder-Brown plays a teen-aged London bathhouse attendant who forms a business alliance with female attendant Jane Asher. The object is to obtain better tips from their clients, but soon the impressionable Moulder-Brown falls in love with the older Asher. Brushed off by the girl in favor of a handsome swimming instructor, Moulder-Brown makes several halfhearted attempts at revenge. When the boy and girl finally do get together sexually, the event is motivated by lust and has tragic results. Deep End observes how adolescent obsession can mushroom into disaster if one doesn't have the emotional equipment to cope. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Asher, John Moulder-Brown, (more)
- 1970
Peter McEnery stars as Col. Etienne Girard, Hussar officer of the Napoleonic era. The story takes place during the Little Corporal's 1808 campaign in the Spanish peninsula. Col. Gerard's adventures include an ongoing war of nerves against Napoleon's forces, not to mention a steamy affair with one Countess Teresa Claudia Cardinale. "Nappy" himself is played by Eli Wallach, who certainly has the right temperament for the role, even though he's much too tall to be thoroughly convincing. Filmed in Spain, The Adventures of Gerard is based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
In this Hungarian melodrama, Semjen recently freed from a Nazi concentration camp destroyed by Russian tanks marries her idealistic sweetheart Sinkovits. Initially, they are very happy. But then her husband is locked up by the Stalinists. The pragmatic Semjen then reunites with Sztankai, her childhood love. He is now a proletarian poet. Many years pass; Sinkovits is finally freed. Unfortunately, he and his wife have drifted apart. The year is 1956 as Russian tanks rumble through Hungary. Semjen begins to remember the times she shared with Sinkovits after she was freed. She returns to him and they begin building a worker's paradise in their homeland. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski directed Hands Up in 1967; he also wrote it, handled the art direction, and played a leading role. Skolimowski portrays Andrzej Leszcyzc, one of several doctors attending a medical school reunion in a sealed-up railway carriage. Between drinks, the disenchanted medicos ruminate over the effect that communism (particularly the Stalinist brand) has had on their profession. Never mind that Russia had just gone through an extensive de-Stalinization program; the Polish authorities found Skolimowski's message offensive, and banned Hands Up outright, compelling the director to seek out creative freedom in other countries. The film was not released until 1981-just in time for martial law to once more rear its ugly head in Poland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bogumil Kobiela, Tadeusz Lomnicki, (more)
- 1967
Marc Jean-Pierre Leaud is a young man who works at a local beauty shop and dreams of cars. When he "borrows" his boss's car for the evening, he is seduced by a wealthy woman before finding love with a younger woman nearer to his own age. Marc also dreams of being part of the affluent society he observes but which always seems to elude him. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Catherine Duport, (more)
- 1966
This Polish drama chronicles the rebelliousness of the country's youth as it presents episodes from a young man's cross-country journey. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Nowicki, Joanna Szczerbic, (more)
- 1966
A man (Andrzej Lapicki) reflects on why his wife and child left him in this drama with comic overtones directed by Jan Rybowski. The man is a concentration camp survivor from World War II who admits to himself he is willing to be underhanded in order to get ahead. His past experiences give him a wry but realistic assessment of his new situation as he contemplates his future. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andrzej Lapicki, Lucyna Winnicka, (more)
