Stranger Than Paradise

Name: Stranger Than Paradise
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: July 25, 1984
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 86
Cast: Cecillia Stark, Danny Rosen, Eszter Balint, Harvey Perr, John Lurie

1984

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The | Release Date: July 25, 1984 | R

Starring: Cecillia Stark, Danny Rosen, Eszter Balint, Harvey Perr, John Lurie, Rammellzee, Richard Boes, Richard Edson, Rockets Redglare, Tom DiCillo

Summary: A self-styled New York hipster is paid a surprise visit by his younger cousin from Budapest. From initial hostility and indifference a small degree of affection grows between the two. Along with a friend, they eventually end up visiting their aunt in the wastelands of Cleveland and then proceed to Florida where they lose all their moneyA self-styled New York hipster is paid a surprise visit by his younger cousin from Budapest. From initial hostility and indifference a small degree of affection grows between the two. Along with a friend, they eventually end up visiting their aunt in the wastelands of Cleveland and then proceed to Florida where they lose all their money gambling before unwittingly gaining a fortune.… Expand

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Rating: R

Runtime: 89 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

It is like no other film you've seen, and yet you feel right at home in it. It seems to be going nowhere, and knows every step it wants to make. It is a constant, almost kaleidoscopic experience of discovery, and we try to figure out what the film is up to and it just keeps moving steadfastly ahead, fade in, fade out, fade in, fade out, making a mountain out of a molehill. Read full review

100

Keith Phipps

There's more going on in the film's mundane moments than the excitement its heroes imagine is waiting beyond the horizon. They never find the postcard America they were promised, but there's a lot of beauty, and a lot of America, in the way they keep searching for it, never quite saying what's on their mind as they go. Read full review

100

IndieWire Vikram Murthi

Jim Jarmusch’s breakthrough film Stranger Than Paradise — famously described by its director as a neo-realistic black comedy in the style of an imaginary Eastern European director obsessed with Ozu and The Honeymooners — captures something essential about the American character: the contradictory desire to be anonymous and to be identified, to blend into the crowd and yet still stand out. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

A bleak but mordantly funny portrait of three aimless characters who discover that paradise isn't such an easy place to find. Read full review

Empire Steve Beard

Jim Jarmusch tried to create the essential road movie and although he didn't manage that, he has still created a classic that captures perfectly the life of a drifter in New York. Read full review

Time Out London Geoff Andrew

Not a lot to it, certainly, but the acting and performances combine to produce an obliquely effective study of the effect of landscape upon emotion, and the wry, dry humour is often quite delicious. Read full review

Pauline Kael

Jarmusch keeps the picture formal and cool, and it has an odd, nonchalant charm; it's fun. But it's softhearted fun--shaggy-dog minimalism--and it doesn't have enough ideas (or laughs) for its 90-minute length.

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User Reviews

ahmedaiman1999

May 5, 2021

Watching TV, playing poker, and sleeping are pretty much everything Willie does every day. His life is uneventful to say the least, and it seems that he's completely unaware that he is trapped in his illusion of 'American dream', leading his life mindlessly as isolation created for him anWatching TV, playing poker, and sleeping are pretty much everything Willie does every day. His life is uneventful to say the least, and it seems that he's completely unaware that he is trapped in his illusion of 'American dream', leading his life mindlessly as isolation created for him an independent-seeming façade that numbs his brain and blinds him from realising his purposeless life. Then comes his cousin, Eva, to live with him for a few days before moving to Cleveland with her aunt. Her 10-day stay, as short as it is, creates ripples in Willie's monotonous daily routine that incrementally changes and ultimately upends his life. Eva's uninvited stay is met by Willie with reluctance, but Jarmusch's long and uninterrupted shots that abruptly fade out in a snippet-like way infuse the scenes the trio (as Willie's friend, Eddie, joins them) share together with an airy flair that urges the viewer to notice them unspokenly communicate, gradually getting along and, eventually, grow a strong attachment to each other. Quiet, still and stagnant as they are, these moments come across as inviting and endearing because of the authentic spontaneity that permeates the intermittent the delivery of the dialogue. As absurdism thrives on randomness, silence and repetition, the movie is adequately suffused in dry humour. The third chapter is probably the weakest, but it has some shots of barren and desolate landscapes that sublimely invoke the theme of isolation and detachment, and a picaresque quality to it that balances out the film's bleakness.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

JLuis_001

May 7, 2023

Jim Jarmusch's second feature film follows the same minimalist formula of his debut.
Stranger Than Paradise is another of those ''so-called gems'' of indie cinema that depicts with a stunning freshness and a laudable ease the zeitgeist of a generation.
Part of me might consider it a sort ofJim Jarmusch's second feature film follows the same minimalist formula of his debut.
Stranger Than Paradise is another of those ''so-called gems'' of indie cinema that depicts with a stunning freshness and a laudable ease the zeitgeist of a generation.

Part of me might consider it a sort of twin sister to Permanent Vacation and not because they feel like such similar films because of their lighthearted plots and similar pacing, but because they both share the same intricacies and the same subtleties that despite their deceptive simplicity infuse them with a remarkable identity.

It has nothing out of the ordinary, but it's clever and above all authentic.
If you get those two elements to work properly, they will end up doing most of the work for you, and for Jarmusch it clearly proved to be true.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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