Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

The road to nowhere
This is a unique minimalist tale, more atmosphere than action, about America seen through the eyes of a winsome young Hungarian woman (Eszter Balint) who comes to stay with her deadbeat cousin (John Lurie) in a desolate area of New York City before moving on to an equally desolate Cleveland suburb. The pretty exile from then-Communist Eastern Europe finds a New World that is not the Promised Land of capitalism, but a vacant landscape of low-rent neighborhoods, motels, hot dog restaurants, bus stations, lonely highways, and TV dinners. The three young people in this film might be lost souls on an aimless road trip, but this is an America where there is no place to arrive. As one character observes, all places are the same. But the bleakness of the landscape is relieved by touches of warmth and gentle humor. The minimalist style and moody music fit the story well. Short individual scenes like snapshots are separated by a black screen. The silences in the conversation and the atmospheric noises become as important as what the characters say. "Stranger than Paradise" succeeds in being artful without being pretentious.

When this film appeared in 1984 it was well received in Europe but did not get much play in the U.S. outside the art house circuit. Now, more than twenty years later, it still holds up very well. In later films Jim Jarmusch has further explored America as seen by the stranger/foreigner ("Down by Law," "Mystery Train"), but without achieving the same magic. If you are receptive to that magic, you may find yourself quoting the characters of "Stranger than Paradise" or fondly recalling their humorous foibles.

Diane Arbus, With Charm
The many virtues of Jarmusch's second feature, the 1984 "Stranger Than Paradise," have largely been pointed out here already. Thus the novel structure of single take scenes divided by black frames, the low key, seemingly natural acting, and the wonderful photography which creates a requisite ugly "sameness," whether the locale is the Lower East Side, wintry Cleveland or the Florida boondocks, need not be discussed again at length here.

One aspect of this memorable film which should be more clearly emphasized, however, is its remarkable tone, one which the relatively young director establishes and never loses control of. It is a tone which combines satire free of sourness with an unforced charm never tumbling into sentimentality. Though the central male characters, Willy and Eddie, are petty card cheats and race track gamblers who are on the road and drifting through existence without much purpose, they are often undeniably charming, even believably sweet. Noteworthy in this regard is Eddie's endearing wish to include visiting cousin Eva from Budapest in the gambling pair's daily activities and gruff Willy's even buying her a dress, although an ugly one, to wear to Cleveland. Similarly, this heroine Eva not only establishes her right to membership on their team through her theft of groceries and cigarettes for the initially unfriendly Willy, but reveals at the same time her own sweetness in consistently sharing any ill gotten gains with both of these hapless guys.


The principal Arbus-like ugliness in the film is in its scenery and costumes. The chief characters who inhabit it, for all their petty flaws, are at the same time unwittingly charming, while never sickeningly so. Such tonal security and balance in a new director's film is an exceedingly rare and welcome achievement.

Cultural Aspirations
Well, an original debut for a young director, but don't expect plot and pacing. The actors take their time, maybe improvising. John Laurie is a young horse and card playing con trying to forget that his relatives are all from Hungry. Enter his cousin, Eszter Balint from the old country and he get's a dose of what he's trying to forget. The irony, both Laurie and Balint have a real love for things American, the music, the clothes, and attitudes, but as if a Saturday Night Live skit from the 80's rematerialized, there's something a little too much or a little too small about their cultural aspirations. And that's the joke of this semi-road movie across America.