Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Success Is the Best Revenge (1984)
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Like Moonlighting, this was shot very quickly, using the director's Kensington home as a major location. Once again the Polish crisis is central: Alex Rodak (York) is a theatrical director exiled with his family (actually the Skolimowskis) and planning an ambitious theatrical 'happening' to establish himself. While his self- preoccupation leads everyone to despair, his 15-year-old son Adam mulls over his own comparative lack of identity and plans to fly to Warsaw. Adam is played by Skolimowski's son (credited as Michael Lyndon); the film's basic idea was his, and clearly a lot of subsequent dabbling with the script is to blame for the way the various strands shoot off in all directions. The result is very disjointed and discursive (with time for a hilarious Thatcherite bank manager cameo from Jane Asher); but reservations aside, Skolimowski creates something which is genuinely cinematic. Spritely, humorous, dazzlingly filmed, the intense energy easily compensates for the often bewildered acting.Author: DT
Cast & crew
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Producer: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cast: Michael York, Joanna Szczerbic, Michael Lyndon, Jerry Skol, Michel Piccoli, Anouk Aimée, John Hurt, Jane Asher full cast
Duration: 91 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now