Jim Jarmusch

Stranger Than Paradise

Stranger Than Paradise

With this breakout film, Jim Jarmusch established himself as one of the most exciting voices in the burgeoning independent-film scene, a road-movie poet with an affinity for Americana at its most offbeat. Jarmusch follows rootless Hungarian émigré Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie (Richard Edson), and his visiting sixteen-year-old cousin, Eva (Eszter Balint), as they drift from New York’s Lower East Side to the snowy expanses of Lake Erie and the drab beaches of Florida, always managing to make the least of wherever they end up. Structured as a series of master-shot vignettes etched in black and white by cinematographer Tom DiCillo, Stranger Than Paradise is a nonchalant masterpiece of deadpan comedy and perfectly calibrated minimalism.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1984
  • 89 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.78:1
  • English
  • Spine #400

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Jim Jarmusch, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 1996 featuring Jarmusch and actor Richard Edson
  • Permanent Vacation (1980), Jarmusch’s seventy-five-minute, color feature debut, presented in a high-definition digital restoration supervised by the director
  • Kino ’84: Jim Jarmusch, a 1984 German television program ­featuring interviews with cast and crew members from Stranger Than Paradise and Permanent Vacation
  • Some Days in January 1984, a behind-the-scenes Super 8 film by Tom Jarmusch
  • U.S. and Japanese trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: Jarmusch’s 1984 “Some Notes on Stranger Than Paradise,” critics Geoff Andrew and J. Hoberman on Stranger Than Paradise, and author and critic Luc Sante on Permanent Vacation

    Cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Jim Jarmusch, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 1996 featuring Jarmusch and actor Richard Edson
  • Permanent Vacation (1980), Jarmusch’s seventy-five-minute, color feature debut, presented in a high-definition digital restoration supervised by the director
  • Kino ’84: Jim Jarmusch, a 1984 German television program ­featuring interviews with cast and crew members from Stranger Than Paradise and Permanent Vacation
  • Some Days in January 1984, a behind-the-scenes Super 8 film by Tom Jarmusch
  • U.S. and Japanese trailers
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: Jarmusch’s 1984 “Some Notes on Stranger Than Paradise,” critics Geoff Andrew and J. Hoberman on Stranger Than Paradise, and author and critic Luc Sante on Permanent Vacation

    Cover by Eric Skillman
Stranger Than Paradise
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, Harvey Perr, Brian J. Burchill
Poker players
Sara Driver
Girl with hat
Paul Sloane
Motel owner
Credits
Director
Jim Jarmusch
Written by
Jim Jarmusch
Producer
Sara Driver
Production manager
Sara Driver
Executive producer
Otto Grokenberger
Director of photography
Tom DiCillo
Music by
John Lurie
Edited by
Jim Jarmusch
Edited by
Melody London
Sound
Greg Curry
Sound
Drew Kunin
Part 1 (“The New World”) from an idea by
Jim Jarmusch
Part 1 (“The New World”) from an idea by
John Lurie

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Jarmusch in Tucson

Repertory Picks

Jarmusch in Tucson

The Loft Cinema kicks off a monthlong Jim Jarmusch retrospective with a screening of the director’s 1984 sophomore feature, Stranger Than Paradise.