Search - Stranger Than Paradise on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1984 DVD Release: 09/05/2000 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 29 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 9 Genres: Comedy, Road Movie, Buddy Film See Also: Stranger Than Paradise [Criterion Collection]

Although Jim Jarmusch made his directorial debut with Permanent Vacation (1982), Stranger than Paradise (1984) marked his breakthrough as a major American filmmaker. One of the most deadpan comedies ever committed to film, Stranger than Paradise suggests a Buster Keaton film written by Samuel Beckett and Jack Kerouac and directed by Andy Warhol. Willie (John Lurie) is a small-time gambler whose distant cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) is moving to America from Eastern Europe and informs him that she'll need to stay with him for ten days. Willie isn't happy to have Eva around, but after Willie introduces her to the joys of American cigarettes and TV dinners ("You got your meat, you got your potatoes, you got your vegetables, you got your dessert and you don't have to wash the dishes -- this is how we eat in America!"), Eva steals a frozen meal and a pack of smokes from the corner store, and Willie is both surprised and impressed. His buddy Eddie (Richard Edson) happens by, and they hang out with Eva just long enough to develop a fondness for her before she moves on to Ohio, where she'll live with her Aunt Lottie (Cecillia Stark). Months later, Willie and Eddie score $600 in a poker game and decide to visit Eva in Ohio. However, it's the dead of winter, and they have nothing to do except look at the frozen surface of the lake. The three eventually head down to the tacky paradise of Miami, where Willie and Eddie try their luck with the ponies and Eva decides what to do next. Stranger than Paradise is a film that defines the notion, "It's not what you say, but how you say it." Shot in long, static takes, its style is minimalism itself, but the post-beatnik cool of John Lurie, Richard Edson and Eszter Balint somehow betrays the fact that they care about each other, and a loopy charm and subtle but potent humor seeps through the film's stark black-and-white images. Stranger than Paradise began as a short subject which was made possible by German director Wim Wenders, who gave Jarmusch a supply of film stock left over from one of his projects, and it went on to become one of the most influential movies of the 1980s, casting a wide shadow over the new generation of independent American filmmakers to come. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

John Lurie - Willie
Eszter Balint - Eva
Richard Edson - Eddie
Cecillia Stark - Aunt Lottie
Danny Rosen - Billy

DVD owners have come to expect good movies from MGM, but not the best discs. Stranger Than Paradise is no exception. Most are just glad to see it released on DVD. This isn't the kind of film that is going to appeal to any sort of mass audience, so MGM should be praised for simply releasing it at all. The picture quality is as good as viewers are going to find and since the film is very low-budget, imperfections show. There is a lot of grain from the original film stock. For the most part though it doesn't look too bad, and it's never really distracting. Kudos do go to MGM for presenting this film in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and even more praise for the new anamorphic transfer. The sound, which uses a split two-channel mono track, is decent, but certainly suffers a little due to what the filmmakers had available to them. It's still clear up front, which is what matters most. MGM has decided to include an odd extra this time. Instead of the usual trailer, they have silent behind-the-scenes footage shot in the cold of Cleveland. It's about ten minutes long and has no purpose since viewers don't know what's really going on. All that's left is a series of short pieces that show director Jim Jarmusch and cast walking around in the snow and setting up shots. Is this a great disc? No, not really, but it's almost a miracle that a film like this would even be released when it seems like everyone is looking for the big-budget spectacles to show off their systems. ~ Trent Fordham, All Movie Guide