Customer Reviews
Possibly the best American film of the 80s - By: Phoust, 15 Dec 2007 
"Stranger Than Paradise" directed by Jim Jarmusch is a triumph of independent film-making & is a product his influences. It would be difficult to imagine other films like "Slacker" (Linklater, 1991) or "Drugstore Cowboy" (Van Sant,1989) without it. Jarmusch's influences are clearly evident in "Stranger Than Paradise" drawing from the neo-realism of Vittorio De Sica as well as Dreyer, Ozu, Bergman, Bresson & Antonioni while never reallly entering into their angst-ridden territory. There is no evident anxiety in these characters but rather what would one would have to regard as a pre-slacker boredom. There seems to be a underlying comic element to these observations of American popular culture as viewed from an outsider perspective that gives it an endearing quality. This is a world where Screaming Jay Hawkins, Grindhouse movies, TV dinners & hipster beat cool replace the existential anxieties of those afore mentioned directors but utilise the visual style instead to achieve its objective. I am also reminded a bit of the Direct Cinema of the Maysles brothers, most notably their masterpiece "Salesman" (1969), when watching this film.
"Stranger Than Paradise" may very well be the best American film of the 80s & is one that I would place in my top 100 ever made.
The criterion package as always is superb with the added bonus of Jim Jarmusch's 1980 directorial debut "Permanent Vacation" included.
I want to see this again! - By: , 12 Feb 2004 
I saw this movie in an arthouse cinema as a supporting feature to the Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" back in 1986. For the first hour I was thinking "what the..?" & then I suddenly got it...Unfortunately to this day I can't quite remember why!
I almost saw it again as half of a late night double bill with "Repo Man" but half way through, they stopped the projector & went straight to "Repo Man". When I asked why, I was told that various people had complained it was boring!
Until it's released on Region 2 PAL, I guess I'll have to keep waiting.
High spots for me were:
1. Screamin' Jay Hawkins on the soundtrack.
2. The martial arts movie sequence - If you've seen it you'll know what I mean..
Powerful in a less-than-obvious way - By: Petrides Antonis, 14 Nov 2003 It is quite possible that somebody might say they have never seen a more slow, uneventful & seemingly uninteresting film in their lives than Strangers in Paradise. It is true that throughout the film nothing reallly 'happens'. Strangers than Paradise demolishes alll presuppositions about narrative & plot, even the minimal expectations one might have from a road movie. Yet it manages to make a point, partly because of its allluring cinematography (the serenity of the snowy landscape weighs on you unbearably), partly because of the distancing effect of the dubbing & partly because of the brilliantly performed characters, whose indifferent, tired faces captivate. This is a story about the American dream & about non-belonging. For those who were mesmerised by the obviousness of American Beauty, Strangers than Paradise will be a total anticlimax. For me, it worked.
Jarmusch comes to age with minimalist classic - By: , 13 Oct 2000 Its alll black & white, tv diners & howling wolf, day trips into the fog, jet planes flying overhead, bringing with them that strange Hungarian relative who just can't stay. But your best friend thinks she's cool, & my god, do we have to go & visit Aunt Lottie - I mean who's the tourist here? Jim Jarmusch's minimalist classic just gets better, buy it, keep it, watch it with the one you love - It reminds you how just how cool filmmaking can be. Jarmusch tells it straight with a twist, paving the way for the film that made him - "Mystery Train" & mapping out the journeys of "Night on Earth", "Dead Man" & "Ghost Dog". Tom deCillo keeps it crisp with stunning camera work, & the cast shine throughout. Its got a spell on you.
