Stranger Than Paradise

Stranger Than Paradise
1984 movie poster
Directed by	Jim Jarmusch
Written by	Jim Jarmusch
Produced by	Sara Driver
Starring	John Lurie Eszter Balint Richard Edson Cecillia Stark Danny Rosen
Cinematography	Tom DiCillo
Edited by	Jim Jarmusch Melody London
Music by	John Lurie
Production company	Cinesthesia Productions Inc.
Distributed by	Janus Films
Release date	1984
Running time	89 min.
Countries	United States West Germany
Language	English
Budget	$100,000
Box office	$2,436,000

Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 deadpan comedy film written and directed by American director Jim Jarmusch. It stars jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, and Hungarian-born actress Eszter Balint.

Plot

The film is a three-act story about self-identified "hipster" Willie (John Lurie), who lives in New York City, and his interactions with the two other main characters, Eva (Eszter Balint) and Eddie (Richard Edson). In the first act, Willie's cousin Eva comes from Hungary to stay with him for ten days because Aunt Lottie, who she will be staying with, will be in the hospital. Willie at first makes it clear that he does not want her there, but soon begins to enjoy her company. This becomes especially true when Eva steals food items from a grocery store, and gets a TV dinner for Willie. He ends up buying her a dress, which she later discards. After ten days, Eva leaves, and Willie is clearly upset to see her go. Eddie, who had met Eva previously, sees her right before she goes.

The second act opens with a long take showing Willie and Eddie winning a large amount of money by cheating at a game of poker. Willie decides, because of all the money they now have, to leave the city. They decide to go to Cleveland to see Eva. However, when they get there they are just as bored as they were in New York. For example, they end up tagging along with Eva and a friend, Billy, to the movies. They eventually decide to go and head back to New York.

The final act begins with Willie and Eddie, on their way back to New York, deciding to go to Florida. They turn around and "rescue" Eva. The three of them get to Florida and get a room at a hotel. They end up losing all of their money on dog races. At this point, they decide to go back and bet on horse races. Willie refuses to let Eva come along, so she goes out on the beach for a walk. She ends up being mistaken by a drug dealer, and is given a large sum of money. She goes back to the hotel, leaves some of the money for Willie and Eddie and writes them a note explaining that she is going to the airport, and then goes there. When she arrives, she discovers that the only flight to Europe left that day is to Budapest, which is where she originally came from. She decides to wait until the following day, and goes back to the hotel. Willie and Eddie end up winning all of their money back at the horse races. But when they get back, Eva is gone, and Willie reads her note and they go to the airport to stop her from leaving. When they get there, Willie is forced to buy a ticket to get on the plane to find Eva. However, he gets on right before the plane takes off, and ends up going on the flight to Budapest. The second to last shot shows Eddie outside watching the plane leave, and he realizes what has happened. The final shot shows Eva back at the hotel, returning to an empty room.

Cast

• John Lurie as Willie
• Eszter Balint as Eva
• Richard Edson as Eddie
• Cecillia Stark as Aunt Lotte
• Danny Rosen as Billy
• Rammellzee as Man With Money
• Tom DiCillo as Airline Agent
• Richard Boes as Factory Worker
• Rockets Redglare, Harvey Perr and Brian J. Burchill as Poker Players
• Sara Driver as Girl With Hat
• Paul Sloane as Motel Owner

Themes

The style of the film is generally considered a direct statement against pop cultural values of the time, such as MTV. For example, MTV is loud and colorful, while the film is shot in black and white and with minimal dialogue. Also, MTV is very rapidly paced, while Stranger Than Paradise deliberately places black space in between each of its sixty-seven shots. Finally, MTV is based on the use of celebrities, while Jarmusch used some of his personal friends for the film, all of whom were unknown actors.

Production

Shooting initiated using leftover film stock from the production of Wim Wenders' Der Stand der Dinge in (1982). It began as a 30-minute short subject film and was later expanded into a three-act feature. This short film was shown as "Stranger Than Paradise" at the 1983 International Film Festival Rotterdam. When it was used for the three-act feature, the initial segment was renamed "The New World".

Reception

The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Caméra d'Or award. The award is given to debut films. It also won the Golden Leopard and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention at the 1984 Locarno International Film Festival, the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1985 and National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Picture of 1985.

Critics

Film critic Pauline Kael gave the film a generally positive review. "The first section is set in the bare Lower East Side apartment of Willie, who is forced to take in Eva, his 16 year old cousin from Budapest, for ten days. The joke here is the basic joke of the whole movie. It's in what Willie doesn't do: he doesn't offer her food or drink, or ask her any questions about life in Hungary or her trip; he doesn't offer to show her the city, or even supply her with sheets for her bed. Then Eddie comes in,even further down on the lumpen scale. Willie bets on the horses; Eddie bets on dog races. Eva, who never gets to see more of New York than the drab, anonymous looking area where Willie lives, goes off to Cleveland to stay with Aunt Lotte and work at a hot-dog stand. And when Willie and Eddie go to see her, all they see is an icy wasteland - slums and desolation - and Eddie says 'You know it's funny. You come to someplace new, and everything looks just the same.' The film has something of the same bombed-out listlessness as Paul Morrissey's 1970 Trash - it's Trash without sex or transvestism. The images are so emptied out that Jarmusch makes you notice every tiny, grungy detail. And those black-outs have something of the effect of Samuel Beckett's pauses: they make us look more intently, as Beckett makes us listen more intently."

Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #26 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films".

Box office

The film made $2,436,000, significantly more than its budget of around $100,000.

Home media

Stranger Than Paradise has been released on DVD by The Criterion Collection.

Legacy

In 2002, Stranger Than Paradise was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film has had a large impact on independent cinema. Allmovie claims that it is "one of the most influential movies of the 1980s," and that it cast "a wide shadow over the new generation of independent American filmmakers to come.

Soundtrack

Main article: Stranger Than Paradise (soundtrack)

The film features an original soundtrack written John Lurie, who also stars in the film. The music is performed by The Paradise Quartet. The song "I Put a Spell on You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins also features prominently in the soundtrack.

External links

Titles

• Stranger Than Paradise at IMDb
• Stranger Than Paradise at the TCM Movie Database
• Stranger Than Paradise at AllMovie
• Stranger Than Paradise at Rotten Tomatoes
• Stranger Than Paradise at Box Office Mojo

Names

• Jim Jarmusch at IMDb
• Jim Jarmusch at AllMovie
• Jim Jarmusch at the TCM Movie Database