Director: Jim Jarmusch
Writers: Jim Jarmusch, John Lurie
Photography: Tom DiCillo
Music: John Lurie, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Editors: Jim Jarmusch, Melody London
Cast: John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson, Cecilia Stark, Tom DiCillo
It’s probably fair to call director and cowriter Jim Jarmusch an acquired taste but Stranger Than Paradise might be as good a place as any to start acquiring it. The picture has obvious affinities with and aspirations toward the work of director Jean-Luc Godard—slow, playful, quirky, mannered, pulpy in cerebral ways, low-budget, self-conscious cinema shot in a black and white that looks like it sat in the sun too long (leftover filmstock donated by Wim Wenders reportedly). The plot involves a threesome of hipsters—Willie (John Lurie), his Hungarian cousin Eva (Eszter Balint), and his best friend Eddie (Richard Edson). As the picture opens Willie hears from his Aunt Lotte (Cecilia Stark) in Cleveland that Eva, coming for a visit, will need to stay with him longer than one night because something has come up and she can’t put her up for another 10 days.
Willie lives in a small dirty apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the first part of the picture, “The New World,” Willie and Eva make do with the situation. He snaps at her a lot and isn’t much of a host. They watch his tiny TV—football, which he tries to explain to her and she says is stupid, and late-night science fiction movies. They smoke a lot of Chesterfields. Willie’s style is porkpie hats indoors. He likes to sit with Eddie drinking beers and not talking. Eva wants to vacuum the place. He tells her in America vacuuming is called “choking the alligator.” She doesn’t believe him. The movie proceeds in a series of scenes with blackouts, skipping ahead in time randomly and without notice. Wikipedia notes these scenes are all single long takes but I should note I never particularly noticed the lack of cuts.
It’s probably fair to call director and cowriter Jim Jarmusch an acquired taste but Stranger Than Paradise might be as good a place as any to start acquiring it. The picture has obvious affinities with and aspirations toward the work of director Jean-Luc Godard—slow, playful, quirky, mannered, pulpy in cerebral ways, low-budget, self-conscious cinema shot in a black and white that looks like it sat in the sun too long (leftover filmstock donated by Wim Wenders reportedly). The plot involves a threesome of hipsters—Willie (John Lurie), his Hungarian cousin Eva (Eszter Balint), and his best friend Eddie (Richard Edson). As the picture opens Willie hears from his Aunt Lotte (Cecilia Stark) in Cleveland that Eva, coming for a visit, will need to stay with him longer than one night because something has come up and she can’t put her up for another 10 days.
Willie lives in a small dirty apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the first part of the picture, “The New World,” Willie and Eva make do with the situation. He snaps at her a lot and isn’t much of a host. They watch his tiny TV—football, which he tries to explain to her and she says is stupid, and late-night science fiction movies. They smoke a lot of Chesterfields. Willie’s style is porkpie hats indoors. He likes to sit with Eddie drinking beers and not talking. Eva wants to vacuum the place. He tells her in America vacuuming is called “choking the alligator.” She doesn’t believe him. The movie proceeds in a series of scenes with blackouts, skipping ahead in time randomly and without notice. Wikipedia notes these scenes are all single long takes but I should note I never particularly noticed the lack of cuts.
But I appreciated how the short scenes and blackouts established a narrative rhythm I enjoy. I saw Stranger Than Paradise a couple of times all these years ago when it was new and liked it a lot, but as Jarmusch’s career proceeded with its ups and downs I didn’t care enough for the trajectory to see everything he has done. I wasn’t sure what I would think coming back to it, and indeed it has lost some of its charm. Balint and especially Lurie aren’t very good actors, and the whole disaffected hipster thing at the heart of it has often grown tiresome for me. Willie is a typical young second-generation immigrant trying to make it in New York, ashamed of his Hungarian heritage and family.
At one point Eddie says to him, “[B]efore I met your cousin, I never know you were from Hungary or Budapest or any of those places.” “So what?" Willie shoots back. “I’m as American as you are.” Eddie wonders if Cleveland is like Budapest and Willie tells him to shut up. Willie is American enough for anyone in that he gets by gambling at the racetrack and cheating in poker games. He won’t speak Hungarian with Eva or Aunt Lotte, instead repeatedly asking them to use English.
I was happy to find the most inspired aspects of the movie, notably its humor, are just as good as ever. Eva totes around an old-fashioned cassette tape recorder and plays Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You” everywhere she goes. It’s just brilliant every time she starts it up. Willie can’t stand “that music” (of course) and whines at her to shut it off. “It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and he's a wild man, so bug off,” she coolly tells him.
Then there is the idea of vacationing in Cleveland in the winter. It looks like one of the most desolate places on the planet. The humor is often dry here but can be very funny. Eva has made it to Cleveland and Aunt Lotte, who supervises her closely with Old World ways. In the second part, “One Year Later,” Eva is working in a fast-food restaurant and generally miserable. Willie and Eddie have won a bunch of money and decide it’s a good time for a vacation—approximately January or February. They borrow a car and head for Cleveland to see Eva. It’s a happy reunion but there is little to do in Cleveland in the winter under the watchful eye of Aunt Lotte (who only speaks Hungarian, in spite of Willie’s requests).
The absurdity is apparent every time they go out, such as on a visit to the Lake Erie shore. The vista is merely white emptiness (emphasized by the character of the filmstock) and the wind is blowing. Snow covers everything. It’s obviously uncomfortably cold. Back at Aunt Lotte’s place, Aunt Lotte makes short work of everyone playing what appears to be gin rummy. “I’m the vinner,” she says at regular intervals, even in the background, accompanied by the sound of riffling cards flopping down. The picture ends with a trip to Florida, which looks as bleak in its way as Cleveland, but they are obviously warmer and more comfortable there. The adventures go on, though the film is short, and the ending is as absurd as the rest of it, with all three apparently lost from one another in different directions in a little comedy of errors. Not a bad place to start with Jarmusch.
At one point Eddie says to him, “[B]efore I met your cousin, I never know you were from Hungary or Budapest or any of those places.” “So what?" Willie shoots back. “I’m as American as you are.” Eddie wonders if Cleveland is like Budapest and Willie tells him to shut up. Willie is American enough for anyone in that he gets by gambling at the racetrack and cheating in poker games. He won’t speak Hungarian with Eva or Aunt Lotte, instead repeatedly asking them to use English.
I was happy to find the most inspired aspects of the movie, notably its humor, are just as good as ever. Eva totes around an old-fashioned cassette tape recorder and plays Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You” everywhere she goes. It’s just brilliant every time she starts it up. Willie can’t stand “that music” (of course) and whines at her to shut it off. “It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and he's a wild man, so bug off,” she coolly tells him.
Then there is the idea of vacationing in Cleveland in the winter. It looks like one of the most desolate places on the planet. The humor is often dry here but can be very funny. Eva has made it to Cleveland and Aunt Lotte, who supervises her closely with Old World ways. In the second part, “One Year Later,” Eva is working in a fast-food restaurant and generally miserable. Willie and Eddie have won a bunch of money and decide it’s a good time for a vacation—approximately January or February. They borrow a car and head for Cleveland to see Eva. It’s a happy reunion but there is little to do in Cleveland in the winter under the watchful eye of Aunt Lotte (who only speaks Hungarian, in spite of Willie’s requests).
The absurdity is apparent every time they go out, such as on a visit to the Lake Erie shore. The vista is merely white emptiness (emphasized by the character of the filmstock) and the wind is blowing. Snow covers everything. It’s obviously uncomfortably cold. Back at Aunt Lotte’s place, Aunt Lotte makes short work of everyone playing what appears to be gin rummy. “I’m the vinner,” she says at regular intervals, even in the background, accompanied by the sound of riffling cards flopping down. The picture ends with a trip to Florida, which looks as bleak in its way as Cleveland, but they are obviously warmer and more comfortable there. The adventures go on, though the film is short, and the ending is as absurd as the rest of it, with all three apparently lost from one another in different directions in a little comedy of errors. Not a bad place to start with Jarmusch.
In my memory this picture captures a period in American cities. 1970s-early '80s urban decay (suburban flight), pre-gentrification cheap rents, going to shows, a semi-easy living arts bohemia. I saw early '80s Portland and Seattle in this one. No Minneapolis?
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