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.
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
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
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
A scene from Stranger Than Paradise
