At the time it was released, Stranger than Paradise felt like a gust of cold air, sort of post-punk cleansing of film grammar--slow and deadpan to the point of self-parody, aggressively about nothing and about people you'd NEVER seen on a movie screen before, and with more black leader than probably any film ever. I rated it the best picture I saw in 1984. I'm not sure it plays quite that well today, after lots of other mainstream movies have stolen Jarmusch's tricks, but it's still surprising, and John Lurie, Richard Edson (later superb in Do the Right Thing), and the inimitable Cecillia Stark as Aunt Lotte are all still quite memorable. The long shot of the "tourists" at Lake Erie is amazing, forcing you to generate your own images out of the gloom like a James Turrell grey-light installation.
Review of Stranger Than Paradise
