Jerzy Stuhr Movies
- 2007
A young man with little in the way of a conscience crosses paths with a fellow whose past is more than he can bear in this drama from Poland. Bartek (Amil Mackowiak) is a corrupt but ambitious business student who has a thriving underground business arranging for failing pupils to hire brighter peers to take their tests for them. While Bartek is taking a train out of town, he meets Ula (Katarzyna Maciag), whose brother is one of his friends, and he's immediately attracted to her even though he already has a girlfriend, Kasia (Karolina Gorczyca). While trailing Ula, Bartek notices a middle-aged man, Mezczyzna (Jan Frycz), who is behaving strangely; Bartek is convinced he's up to no good, and with some help from Ula he follows the stranger through the train station and bullies him into sharing his story. Years before, Mezczyzna fell in love with Irena (Aleksandra Konieczna), who was dating his best friend, and to get him out of the picture Mezczyzna informed on him to the secret police. Decades later, Mezczyzna finds he can no longer live with the guilt, and wants to fake his own death so he can start life over again. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Amil Mackowiak, Karolina Gorczyca, (more)
- 2006
- PG
Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berluscoi is just one of the targets of writer and director Nanni Moretti's satiric focus in this sharp comedy-drama. In the 1970's, Bruno (Silvio Orlando) was one of Italy's most daring and best-respected filmmakers, while his wife Paola (Margherita Buy) was a leading box-office star. However, come the new millennium, things are a whole lot different for Bruno -- Paola is divorcing him, his production company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and he can't get a new project off the ground. When Teresa (Jasmine Trinca), a young woman down on her luck, approaches Bruno with a script, he agrees to take on the project, even though he hasn't read it and doesn't know how he'll raise the money. Bruno discovers he's put himself in hot water when he reads the screenplay and discovers it's a frontal assault on Silvio Berluscoi that doesn't shy away from allegations of his connection to organized crime, tax evasion, bribery and influence peddling. While Italian firms won't dare touch the project, Bruno discovers a Polish financier (Jerzy Stuhr) who will put up the money, but under one condition -- Bruno has to persuade box-office idol Marco Pulici (Michele Placidio) to play Berluscoi. Il Caimano (aka The Caiman) received its North American premier at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Silvio Orlando, Margherita Buy, (more)
Seventeen years after abandoning his family to live as a monk, a former member of Solidarity is reunited with his wife and children after being spotted singing at a street festival in this seriocomic satire from famed writer/director Jerzy Stuhr. As communism takes hold in Poland, a disenchanted everyman (Stuhr) leaves his suburban life behind to embrace the simple life. Nearly two decades later, the long-lost husband and father is spotted by his family while performing and subsequently exposed. As a result, he is forcefully ejected from the monastery and soon returns home to live in the family garage. But plenty has changed in the years since this pious suburbanite left everything behind: his wife has taken a handsome lover, his son has gone to work for a corrupt politician, his youngest daughter deals dope on the street, and his oldest girl casually sheds her clothes on television. Now, as the hapless father does everything within his power to get his wildly dysfunctional family back on the straight and narrow, he's about to discover just how strange things can really get when communism fails. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, (more)
Working from a recently rediscovered script from late Polish filmmaker Krysztof Kieslowski, veteran actor and frequent Kieslowski collaborator Jerzy Stuhr directs this wry fable about intolerance and individuality. The film opens with bank clerk and clarinet enthusiast Zygmunt Sawicki (Stuhr) discovering a huge two-humped camel in his garden -- apparently left behind by a traveling circus. Though his schoolteacher wife Marysia (Anna Dymna) initially doesn't know what to make of the cud-chewing animal, Zygmunt takes an immediate shine to the beast, and takes it in. His fellow villagers also seem to take to the camel: Zygmunt is greeted warmly as he parades it around their little town, and Marysia's pupils clamor over each other to name the animal. However, the townsfolk soon grow tired and suspicious of the beast. Friends and neighbors start to avoid the Sawickis, and children are forbidden to go near the animal. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Anna Dymna, (more)
- 1999
Jerzy Stuhr wrote, directed, and starred in this drama about a man sworn to uphold the law who applies a very different moral code to himself than he does to others. As Adam Borowski, Stuhr plays a government lawyer prosecuting a variety of cases, including smuggling, theft, child abandonment, and racially motivated assault. However, Adam's own life is hardly a model by which to live. He's overextended himself financially and is trying to figure out how to avoid paying the hospital bills for his terminally ill mother. Adam is married, but he's been having an affair for some time, and, while he breaks off his relationship with his mistress, he's easily tempted into other liaisons. His wife wants to adopt a handicapped child; Adam would prefer not to have another child in the house, and he uses his influence to slow up the paperwork. And in order to reduce his tax bill, Adam has involved himself in a charitable donation scheme of dubious legality. Amidst all this, Adam sings with a choral group scheduled to make a tour of the United Kingdom; one of his best friends from the group is slowly slipping into madness. Tydzien Z Zycia Mezczyzny was well-received when it was screened in competition at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Gosia Dobrowolska, (more)
Jerzy Stuhr scripted, directed and plays four roles in this Polish comedy about four men -- an army officer, a college instructor, a priest, and a drug dealer -- and their relationships with four females. An attractive student (Dominika Ostalowska) puts the teacher in an awkward spot when she reveals her love for him. An 11-year-old (Karolina Ostrozna) informs the priest that she's his daughter. The army officer is pleased when confronted by a past lover (Irina Alfiorowa). The drug dealer, taken prisoner, must decide whether or not to trust his wife (Katarzyna Figura) with his hidden loot. In the wrap-up, the elderly accountant (Jerzy Nowak) passes judgment on all four men. Stuhr acted in films by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski, who had some input here by offering advice to Stuhr on this screenplay. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival, this film is also known as Love Stories. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Dominika Ostalowska, (more)
In this Polish comedy, Gustav, a Cracow professor must play gracious host to a visiting Swedish academic who is more interested in finding a date than he is in the historical sights of the city. The trouble is, the Polish scholar has spent so many years in his ivory tower that he currently doesn't know any women. Still, wanting to please his guest, he gamely goes through his old address book and begins calling old lovers. Each phone call brings a slew of memories. Unfortunately, each one of the women have changed and none are available until he calls his old college-sweetheart Isa. The last time he saw her, she was writing a dissertation on the sex lives of geese and he fondly remembers her as a lovely, voluptuous woman. She is available that night and a meeting is arranged. Unfortunately, time and gravity have taken their toll and now the formerly zaftig woman is just plain fat. The sophisticated Swedish professor is appalled at the prospect of dating her, but goes along to be polite. Gustav has many fond memories of Isa and doesn't seem to mind that she has become matronly. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
- R
The second feature in filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy, the black comedy White features Zbigniew Zamachowski as Karol Karol, an expatriate Polish hairdresser whose French wife (the breathtaking Julie Delpy) divorces him after just six months of marriage because of his impotency. Penniless and devoid of his passport, Karol must journey back to Poland by hiding in a trunk. Upon his return, he slowly begins amassing a considerable fortune, ultimately hatching a perverse plot for revenge. Often unjustly dismissed as the weak link in the trilogy, White grows in strength upon repeated viewings. An allegory about equality, the film is mordantly witty, a cynical look at power, marriage and capitalism. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zbigniew Zamachowski, Julie Delpy, (more)
- 1989
This Polish production concerns a misanthrope who continually tries to fit in with a conformist society. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Jerzy (Jerzy Stuhr) trades a kidney for a rare stamp, only to see a twist of fate underline his folly. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Zbigniew Zamachowski, (more)
Try pronouncing the title of the Polish comedy-fantasy Kingsajz and you'll tumble to its English-language title. That's right . . . Kingsize. The hero lives in the dwarf land of Shuflandia, a microscopic country located in the cellar of a library. As a result of his good behavior, the hero is enlarged to human size by a magic potion. Once he finds himself in the "real" world, he begins asking himself why he'd ever want to remain. A few minutes later, he understands why: in Shuflandia, there are no women. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacek Chmielnik, Jerzy Stuhr, (more)
- 1987
This erotic drama based on the novel by Julius Kaden Bandrowski takes place in Poland during World War I. The heroine, Maryska (Grazyna Trela) is an aristocrat whose husband is missing in action. Rather than mourning his absence, she promptly falls into bed with Professor Ciaglewicz (Jerry Stuhr), one of her husband's friends, but before long seems to have fallen in love with Adam Korwski (Henryk Bista), a seventeen year old boy, who is the son of people she is visiting. The randy older woman initiates the shy youth into sexuality, making love with him in a large variety of ways and positions. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Henryk Bista, (more)
- 1986
The titular mode of transportation in Train to Hollywood passes over the borders between Reality and Fantasy several times during the course of the film. The central character is a young Polish girl addicted to Hollywood movies. She spends her waking hours fantasizing about being Marilyn Monroe. In fact, she is a lowly dining-car worker on a slow- moving passenger train. Before fadeout time, wish fulfillment has fully exerted itself and the girl has become a legend in her own mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katarzyna Figura
- 1985
Suspenseful for most of its length, though a letdown at the end, this psychic thriller is about four very different people who are drawn to one particular place in the town of Sopot, a resort on the Baltic Sea. The time is 1933, and it so happens that 50 years earlier, a foul murder was committed here. Involved in that offense were four people who are dead-ringers for the four now gathering in Sopot. The modern versions of the four dead people are a police commissioner, a schoolteacher, a hunchback, and someone who just happens to be visiting from Berlin. As the police commissioner begins to gather evidence, he comes to the conclusion that this murder might just be a cyclical occurrence. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wladyslaw Kowalski, Michal Bajor, (more)
- 1985
Jerzy Stuhr portrays Ludwik Danielak, an out-of-work television personality trying for a comeback by producing a new program. The show will star Zbignew Tataj (Mieczyslaw Frankaszek), who is scheduled to meet the public with a national promotional tour. The star becomes disillusioned when he is forced to read a prepared speech to the fans and is not allowed to deviate from the text. The surprised Stuhr is left alone when Tataj becomes disgusted and walks off the stage in the middle of a program. This feature won the top prize at the 1987 Moscow Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr
- 1985
In a murky, sometimes confusing tale about a future dystopia in which people are waiting -- and waiting -- for a rescue ship called the Ark, there are several good one-liners, but they are outnumbered by the puzzling riddles and symbolism that permeate the story. The flotsam and jetsam of humanity are huddled together in an underground labyrinth after civilization as we know it has been obliterated by the Bomb. The survivors are protected by a dome which a repairman notes is bound to crack before the Ark arrives because it was constructed under a one-year plan. The hero of the film searches for the origins of the myth about the Ark and along the way falls in love with a prostitute. It seems the world's oldest profession has also survived the nuclear holocaust. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Krystyna Janda, (more)
Co-writer and director Juliusz Machulski has come up with a hybrid sex sci fi comedy that defies categorization -- a humorous, male-fantasy that is set after a mythical World War III, in a surviving underground world of women only. Before the terrible onslaught of the final war, two scientists were frozen in a state of suspended animation with the intention of thawing them out in three years. When they are released from their ice-bound sleep, 50 years have passed instead and they find themselves the only two males in a female society that has thus far reproduced only in the test tube. The women cater to the men's every wish, and one of the scientists is definitely a happy camper, while the other firmly believes that a dedication to science negates sexual indulgences, but then, he is also willing to test his theory. When the charming Lamia (Bozena Stryjkowna) is converted from an heroic to a submissive state by virtue of her first kiss, the two men realize they can now adequately defend themselves against the more militant females. Their fate still hangs in the balance because the Council of Women may decide to neuter them after all. As a possible escape hatch, the men discover a way up to the surface of the earth, and they manage the journey with Lamia (now permanently converted) while another woman follows them out, trying to stop their exit. Once they are all on the surface, they experience several wonderful surprises -- and it looks like the future of humanity is assured a second chance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Jerzy Stuhr, (more)
The Polish Year of the Quiet Sun is set in the years following World War II. In a small Polish town, a United Nations war-crimes investigation is taking place. While the courtroom battle rages on, American soldier Scott Wilson takes advantage of a few precious r-and-r opportunities. He falls in love with Maja Komorowska, a war widow. Despite obvious political and ideological differences, the romance flourishes--at least until it's time for the Americans to pack up and leave. More cerebral than carnal, Year of the Quiet Sun was originally release in Poland as Rok Spokojnego Slonca. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maja Komorowska, Scott Wilson, (more)
- 1981
This Polish sci-fier is set in the year 1999. Roman Wilhemi plays a TV reporter who witnesses the Martian invasion of Earth. He tries to spread the news, but the public considers his bulletin a mere replay of the 1938 Orson Welles hoax. The government knows the truth, but publicly derides Wilhemi as a madman so as to avoid widespread panic. This cynical slice of speculative fiction was originally released in Poland as Wojna Swiatow--Nastepne Stulecie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roman Wilhelmi, Krystyna Janda, (more)
- 1981
Calm was filmed in 1976 for Polish television, but not released until 1980 after it had been substantially edited, leaving the story somewhat less coherent due to the cut segments. A young man (Jerzy Stuhr) has just finished serving a three-year prison term, and is looking for work to be able to start all over again. He does find a job at a construction site, and while hoping for the best, it does not take him long to find out that his boss is corrupt and his fellow workers are secretly planning a strike. Unfortunately, he is caught in a dilemma - his heart is with the workers but his boss has him in a vise. It seems as though there is no clear way out of this dead-end street for the man who just wanted to earn an honest living. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerzy Stuhr, Jerzy Trela, (more)
- 1980
In this standard drama with universal overtones, ethics, sensitivity, and the arts are pitted against winning at any cost. The leader of each camp is embodied in a schoolteacher who loves music and art and encourages students in that direction, and a ruthless handball coach who loves to win so he can advance his own reputation. When the coach begins to coerce his students into cheating in order to come out ahead, he does not realize how much his lack of morals affects the young men on the handball team. The results are nearly tragic. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Krzysztof Zaleski, Jerzy Stuhr, (more)
- 1980
Talented Polish director Agnieszka Holland who would be better known in later years because of her films like Europa, Europa (1991) or some of her American works like Washington Square (1997), hits the mark early and again with this ostensible story about provincial actors in Poland. In reality, the comedy-drama can be read as a commentary on the contemporary Polish scene in politics and society. The story begins as a savvy director arrives in a small town to put on a stage play. His leading man is filled with insecurities and goes beyond the confines of his lead role to expand his part, restore his cut lines, and generally outdo himself while taking on some of everyone else's job, including the director's. No one wants to lose him because of his drawing power, and the director is caught in a bind. At the same time, the lead actor's wife is slowly losing her chances at success, being relegated to a much lesser position in the troupe. This fine comedy won the Fipresci award at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Halina Labonarska, Tadeusz Huk, (more)
