Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Never heard of this film but it came around on Turner Classic Movies so I figured I'd give it a shot. It boggles the mind how so many reviewers on here say how much of a masterpiece something is whenever the late Ebert said something similar. Those same people most likely thought 2001 A Space Odyssey was a masterpiece too simply because they were afraid to admit they had no idea what the *bleep* it was about.Stranger Than Paradise is a complete mess from beginning to end. Read the other *expert* reviews for the story line, what there is of a story line anyway. When the final credits rolled I just stared at the TV and mumbled, what was the point of that drivel?

This is my favorite Jim Jarmusch movie by far. The acting of John Lurie (Willie), Eszter Balint (Eva) and Richard Edson (Eddie) are extremely believable, to the extent that looks almost documentary, and is easy for the viewer to get familiarize with them.The relationships between the characters are quite realistic, with an extra surreal touch, due to their opposite personalities: Willie and Eddie don't agree about decision making. On the other hand, find it hard to show their feelings about Eva. This fact leads funny and bizarre situations. Despite the "tough guy" look of Willie, he is quite insecure. He even resigns of his own nationality: Hungarian.Some reviewers points that Eszter Balint performance is quite discreet. I disagree. She acts very naturally, with the feeling of a teenager who came alone for the first time from Hungary to New York Jungle.9/10

Viewers appear to either love the film or hate it. Like any good work of art, STP tries to get us to see the familiar in an unfamiliar way, such that our understanding of the every-day is deepened. So I'm tempted to say that anyone willing to look through Jarmusch's novel spectacles will be rewarded, while those insisting on a more conventional approach will turn away in disgust. But perhaps the results are not as simple as that. After all, who would want to sit through a double feature that extends the listlessness and minimalism to 3 hour duration. STP may have moments of real insight such as the dead-end diner, nevertheless as cinematic style, the limitations are obvious. (Andy Warhol's eight hours of fixed focus on a Manhattan skyscraper may be a profound idea, but as repeatable cinema the limitations are even more obvious.) Still and all, this one-of-a kind is salvaged by its droll humor. By any measure, it's an exquisite example of existential comedy. The zombified characters simply cannot communicate with one another and as a result are reduced to co-existing in darkly humorous fashion, carrying their mute fumblings from one seedy locale to another, (the ridiculous pork-pie hats are a brilliant comedic touch). And not even that most American of solutions, a big wad of money, helps; in fact the sudden windfall produces a final physical separation, both amusingly ironic and unexpectedly poignant. Apparently, Jarmusch intends this on-going isolation as a musing on the so-called human condition, since a number of scenes are filmed against featureless horizons. But whatever the over-all intention, this 'Buster Keaton meets Ingmar Bergman' oddity remains a classic of deadpan understatement. And though most of us are a lot more talkative than the three principals, I wonder--when you get right down to it which Jarmusch does--if we communicate any more effectively.

"Stranger Than Paradise" is an offbeat, low-budget, black and white film about a slacker who meets his immigrant cousin and the effect she has on his life. Willie- our hero- is disgusted when he first meets Eva… he seems to be in denial of his Hungarian heritage and ashamed of his family. But she slowly, quietly makes an impression on him, and when she leaves New York for Cleveland, Willie and his friend Eddie- the wonderful Richard Edson- make their way to see her.She is stuck, Americanized, working in a hot dog stand, living with an elderly Aunt who is either unable or unwilling to speak English. Eva tells the fellows that she would like to be "rescued" and "kidnapped" because she hates her life, so the trio ventures down to the paradise of Florida.There was a very obvious choice made by Director Jim Jarmusch to have minimal dialogue, which adds to the film's deliberate, unpolished feel, but just as often seems completely unrealistic. For such a stark, proudly-independent feel Jarmusch employs a brazen deus ex machina to resolve the dead-end storyline: Eva is simply walking along the street when a jive-talking black man hands her an envelope stuffed with cash. Is this her reward for being a Screaming Jay Hawkins fan? I don't think so.The movie came to a perfect ending: Willie boards the plane, rejecting America, rejecting the culture that drove him to become a card sharp and gambler, and returns to Budapest where he will finally embrace his roots and true identity and start life over. The final shot is Eva returning to her Florida hotel room. Maybe she has to subject herself to more suffering and loneliness in the States before she is able to make the same transformation. "Stranger Than Paradise" is thought-provoking and entirely original, and that alone makes it worth seeing.GRADE: B-