Review of Stranger Than Paradise (1984) by Kevin N — 25 Apr 2012
It's so easy to watch this film now and think you've seen it before. In truth, Jim Jarmusch's low-key, minimalist indie started it all, and it did extraordinary things that have become commonplace and worn out.
However, that doesn't devalue the film at all. On the contrary, I found a purity and sincerity to the film which is precisely the thing I find lacking from so many "indies" nowadays. It all starts with the structure of the film, which is brilliant.
Jarmusch divides the movie into three chapters, and these chapters are split into small scenes comprised of single long takes. There is no shot/reverse shots, no three camera setups, which makes the second incredible element of the film so critical: the cast.
I've always loved John Lurie, a jazz musician who has acted in a few things but who just kind of has that *something*. It is a pleasure just to watch his gears turn, to see his fish-faced reactions and hear his thick New York accent.
He is an interesting subject. Eszter Balint and Richard Edson, who pretty much make up the rest of the cast, are pitch-perfect. The movie isn't really funny in that conventional, dictionary definition sort of way.
Instead, it makes some clever observations about America, and some of them are humorous and some of them are sad, and by the end those extremes circle our heads until we can't tell whether to laugh or cry.
This review of Stranger Than Paradise (1984) was written by Kevin N on 25 Apr 2012.
Stranger Than Paradise has generally received very positive reviews.
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