(Jerzy Skolimowski, UK 1982, 97 min., 35mm, English and Polish with English subtitles)
After his 1981 film, Hands Up!, was banned in his native Poland, writer/director Jerzy Skolimowski’s films produced in other countries took on themes of exile, alienation, and the struggles of the Polish diaspora. The first of these was Moonlighting, starring Jeremy Irons as a construction worker in London’s West End who has brought a team over from Poland to remodel a townhouse and send the money back to Poland. While it seems like a good idea, construction problems and language barriers eat into their profits, while the political strife in Poland distracts the team. Made in direct response to the imposition of martial law in Poland, Skolimowski’s film captures the early winds of dissent and the Solidarity movement.