Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Jim Jarmusch

Writer:

Jim Jarmusch (written by)

Release Date:

9 November 1984 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

This is about a self-styled New York hipster (John Lurie of the Lounge Lizards) who is paid a suprise...

Plot Keywords:

Road | New York City | Florida | Hungarian | Slacker

Awards:

8 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

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

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA | West Germany

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:S | South Korea:15 | Sweden:Btl | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Company:

Cinesthesia Productions

Trivia:

In the scene where Willie and Eddie pick up Eva from the Hot Dog stand, director Jim Jarmusch can be seen eating a hot dog while wearing a beanie in the background.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the last cut, shot inside the vehicle on the way to Cleveland, camera on Willie, the vehicle they are riding in is no longer the 1965 Dodge Coronet, but a Ford Econoline van.

Quotes:

Willie: Here, let me tell you a joke, all right? There's three guys, and they're walking down the street. One guy says to the other one, "Hey, your shoe's untied." He says, "I know that." And they walk... No... There's two guys, they're walking down the street...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Soundtrack:

I Put a Spell on You

Neat little formal exercise

Watched for the second time the other night, and was struck how formal this really is. Every scene is a single take, some static, some with very stylized camera movement (static shot up the street to an approaching car; pick up car and track it as it passes, static again as it drives off). Occasionally an actor wanders off screen to the right, despite the camera trying to keep up; just this slight effect, surrounded as it is by so much silence and stillness, is enough to produce a slight frisson of tension. Blackouts separate the scenes, but either ambient sound or music cues continue as transitions during the cuts.

The main characters' costumes underline their alienation from the world around them. Judging from the props & surroundings, film seems to be set in contemporary (early-1980s) time. Willie and Eddie dress and act like late-Fifties/early-Sixties racetrack touts, and they seem most at ease in the retro living room of Aunt Lotte, who presumably left Hungary during that period. Eva's costumes likewise proclaim 'outsider,' though the dreary black she wears can signify either a refugee from East Europe or a jaded bohemian poseur.

First viewing a number of years back, I thought the film was offhanded and casual, with not much going on. A second viewing changed my mind - the absolute minimalism of the plot and dialogue leave plenty of space to explore Jarmusch's technique, composition, etc. It made me laugh out loud a couple of times, too.