Stranger Than Paradise (1984, US/W. Germ.)

In co-writer/director Jim Jarmusch's minimalist, odd-ball, stark B/W indie road film - it was his breakthrough film and only his second feature film, providing a timeless, insightful snapshot of mid-1980s ennui, stagnation, anomie, and disillusionment - and the myth and failure of the American dream. The influential, low-budget, essentially plotless and stripped-down comedy-drama and arthouse film was popular with film buffs and cult-film enthusiasts.

The quirky and idiosyncratic film mixed the feel of a Jack Kerouac road film, a Waiting for Godot-like script written by Samuel Beckett, post-beatnik hipster 'coolness', and the slow pace of an Andy Warhol movie. It was an intense study in alienation amongst bohemian outcasts or outsiders, shot mostly in a dead-pan style (without fancy camera movements), with scenes that began and ended with simple fade-ins and fade-outs to blackness. There were a total of 67 single-shot, unbroken takes or scenes, mostly disconnected and episodic. It was very atypical of most films due to its unconventional and static nature, its unedited and uncut lengthy takes, its strung-together vignettes, and its lack of a dense plot.

The grainy, B/W independent film's main stylistic message was the aimless, uncommunicative, boring, repetitious and listless goals of its main characters who were on a disaffected, pointless, and low-key search for some kind of paradise. Nevertheless, the two males had formed a compelling, tight affectionate bond with each other, in three separate locations that delineated the three-part film:

• NY (NY) ("The New World")
• Cleveland (OH) ("One Year Later")
• Miami (FL) ("Paradise")

Jarmusch's simple narrative of a film - shot on a micro-budget of $90,000 - became a surprise hit, grossing almost $2.5 million. It was the winner of the Palm d'Or in 1984 in Cannes.

• the film's opening was set at the exterior of an airport, where a female dressed in a dark black overcoat stood with her suitcase and a large paper bag, watching jets taxi, land, and take-off from a nearby runway, before picking up her things and walking off
• in the following scene, Willie (John Lurie) (originally 10 years earlier from Hungary and named Bela Molnar), a hipster or slacker who lived a boring and monotonous lifestyle in a small NYC tenement-apartment on the Lower East Side, received a phone call from his elderly, feisty, Hungarian-accented Aunt Lotte (Cecillia Stark) from Cleveland, OH; distancing himself from his heritage, he insisted: "Speak English please," as she told him that his teenaged, 16 year-old distant Hungarian cousin Eva Molnar (Eszter Balint in her film debut) had just flown in from Budapest, Hungary; although the original plan was for her to stay for one overnight before continuing on to Aunt Lotte's home in Cleveland, OH, she explained that there was an emergency change of plans
• Willie was upset and frustrated that Eva was arriving shortly and couldn't stay with the recently-hospitalized Aunt Lottie until 10 days later; he bitterly and vainly complained that Eva's intrusive visit would disrupt his daily routine: "No, I never agreed to that. I can't possibly babysit her for 10 days. No, look. It's disrupting my whole life. I don't even consider myself a part of the family. Do you understand?" - but he had no choice
• THE NEW WORLD: Eva walked to Willie's apartment by foot; she walked down the gray, desolate and lonely NYC streets (with litter and trash) with her tape cassette loudly playing Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You"; she observed a closed-down gas station with the sign 'Quality You Can Trust', and graffiti spray-painted on a steel, rolled-down storefront: ("U.S. OUT OF EVERYWHERE - YANKEE GO HOME")
  

Willie (John Lurie) (originally Bela Molnar)

Eva Molnar (Eszter Balint)

• in his sparsely-furnished rooming house-apartment, Willie nervously awaited his cousin Eva's arrival; once he met his distant Hungarian relative, he coldly insisted she only speak English and call him by his Americanized name - wishing to be totally white-washed of any foreign influences, and asserting himself as completely culturally assimilated; he informed her that she wouldn't be proceeding onto Cleveland the next day, due to her Aunt's unexpected hospitalization: ("So you can stay here tonight, and then I don't know what you're gonna do after that")
• the next morning, Eva (wearing a pair of his oversized men's PJs) sat smoking a cigarette on her makeshift bed in the same room where Willie was still snoozing; smarter than her cousin, it was obvious to her that Willie's aimless existence and unemployed life consisted mostly of sleeping in and watching a portable TV; he was initially passively hostile and indifferent to her presence, and basically ignored her; however, he became aggravated with her when she answered a phone call from some unknown person named Courguy, and also when she suggested going out by herself into the surrounding neighborhood; she asserted that she could take care of herself, but he expressed more frustration about her; eventally, he gave in and let her go alone:
  • "You come here, you don't know what's going on in this city. You never been here before. You come and stay in my apartment. I don't even want ya here, and you're just, like, 'Yeah, I know what's going on.' You think you're so motherf--kin' together"
• during their brief time together, Willie attempted to introduce Eva to his normal meal routine - eating a TV dinner (heated up in tin-foil) with plastic utensils, and washed down with a can of beer: "You're supposed to eat it while you watch TV" - although ironically, for once, the TV was not on; and then she bugged him when she asked about the strange-looking meat; he explained it probably came from a cow, and then insisted:
  • "Eva, stop buggin' me, will ya? You know, this is the way we eat in America. I got my meat, I got my potatoes, I got my vegetables, I got my dessert, and I don't even have to wash the dishes"
• on the next day's afternoon (her second day), as Eva was reading a comic book, and Willie was shaving using a small mirror perched atop his refrigerator, Willie's best friend and buddy, another misfit (wearing similar clothing) named Eddie (Richard Edson) stopped by for a visit; upon meeting Willie's cousin Eva, he reacted positively: "She's cute"; when Eva explained how she was going to Cleveland in about a week's time, he responded: "It's got a big, beautiful lake. You'll love it there," but then oddly admitted he had never been there before
• Eddie and Willie discussed their favorite past-time - betting as small-time gamblers at the horse races; Eddie reviewed the horses in the second and third races of the day, although Willie kept affirming that Eva couldn't join them; Eddie (who immediately took a liking to Eva) kept asking for her to come along, because she'd have fun, but Willie refused; Eva told Eddie: "He bugs me," and was clearly annoyed by being so poorly treated, but the passive Eddie was unwilling to challenge's Willie's alpha-dominance [Note: The last three horses mentioned for the second race were named of Japanese director Yasujirô Ozu's films: Late Spring (1949), Passing Fancy (1933), and Tokyo Story (1953).]
• later while viewing the late January 1982 Super Bowl on Willie's TV between the Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers, he attempted to explain to her how the quarterback was in charge of the offense, although couldn't clearly articulate what happened when Eva asked: "So what does the quarterback do when he becomes the defense?"; she reacted: "I think this game is really stupid"
• later in the evening, they were again in the same positions, now watching the 50's sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956) - it was an excerpt from the scene of Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) describing the planetary race of creatures known as the Krell, who had developed an advanced civilization; in the next scene, it was approaching dawn and Willie was now asleep, although Eva was still awake and watching a short animation - Bimbo's Initiation (1931) [Note: In all their instances of watching TV, only the dialogue was heard.]
• the next day, Eva volunteered to use his vacuum cleaner to tidy things up in his dirty and dysfunctional place: ("It's really dirty in here"); as she plugged it in and noted how the bag was full, he deflected and criticized her English by using the phrase: "I want to vacuum the floor" and facetiously suggested instead that she should have said: "I want to choke the alligator," or "I'm choking the alligator"
• at another time during her 10 day stay, as Willie was playing solitaire by himself (and losing), Eva arrived and emptied her large overcoat's pockets of canned food items, a frozen Beef TV dinner for Willie, and a full carton of Chesterfield cigarettes - "I got this stuff with no money"; he was impressed by her shoplifting of items from a nearby store and congratulated her: "You're all right, kid, I think. I think you're all right, kid"; then he complained about his game of solitaire: "So I've been losing all afternoon here," but she quipped: "I've been winning"
• another afternoon, Eva was dancing in the kitchen to her tape recording of Screamin' Jack Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You," and she defended herself against Willie's criticism of her American music: "It's Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and he's a wild man, so bug off"; Willie revealed that he had actually established a small but awkward affectionate bond with Eva, when he tried to amend his ways by presenting her with a new floral print party dress; she thanked him but reacted honestly that it wasn't her kind of style: "I think it's kind of ugly"
• at the end of her stay, as she packed her suitcase, Eva was wearing the dress that Willie had given her; as he watched her mostly in silence, she left him with some Chesterfield packs from the carton she had stolen
• in the bittersweet scene, as she bid Willie goodbye before walking by herself to the train station (departing for Cleveland to be with Aunt Lotte), she told him: "I would like to go by myself"; after Willie sputtered: "Take care of yourself," Eva gave him a brief kiss on the cheek; as he opened the door for her, he asked tentatively: "So Eva...uh, I don't know, maybe I'll see you again sometime," and she responded: "Yeah, maybe"
• on a nearby street-corner, Eva put on a pair of pants under her dress, then took off the dress and threw it in a garbage can; Eddie approached after watching her, and realizing that he had observed her, she explained: "This dress bugs me. I'm leaving. I'm going to Cleveland"; she chuckled when he again mentioned: "It's a beautiful town" before they said their goodbyes
• the contrasting absence of Eva's company left Willie with a palpable and silent void in his life, and an even more desolate feeling of loneliness; while Willie was pacing back and forth in his kitchen, Eddie arrived to mention how he had seen Eva leaving, but stifled any comment about seeing her trashing Willie's gift of a dress; the two deadbeats sat and silently drank beers together

Awkward Silence Between Eddie and Willie, Drinking Beers After Eva's Departure

Willie and Eddie Cheating During a Poker Game

• ONE YEAR LATER: five poker players (Rockets Redglare, Harvey Perr and Brian J. Burchill) sat around a table in a tenement apartment gambling at poker, with Willie and Eddie pretending like they were strangers to each other; one of the players became suspicious that Willie and Eddie were cheating: ("Every time Eddie deals, Willie wins. Every time Willie deals, Willie wins"); the two buddies made a quick exit to avoid a confrontation; at the doorway of a building, Willie counted the money - his only means of work or compensation, and he expressed his satisfaction: "Tomorrow we got the track, then with this, we're doin' pretty good"
• Willie suggested contacting Eddie's brother-in-law Max who leased used cars, to get out of town for awhile, but denied it was because of the recent enemies they had created: "I don't care about them. I just want to get out of here and see something different for a few days, you know?"; in the next scene inside a car, Willie suggested that they drive to Cleveland to make a surprise visit on Eva: ("Think this thing's gonna make it to Cleveland?"); they were both longing to fill an emptiness
• in the middle of winter, Eddie was at the wheel of a borrowed 1965 Dodge Coronet, driving along frozen NYC streets; Willie questioned a guy standing on the sidewalk (waiting for a bus, but not at a bus stop?) with the strange inquiry: "Can you tell me which way is Cleveland?"; the man (Richard Boes) didn't want to be bothered: "Give me a break, man. I'm just going to work" - he admitted to their surprise that he was a factory worker
• during their road-trip, Eddie pondered where they would stay once they arrived: "Willie, when we get to Cleveland, where are we gonna stay? With your cousin Eva and, uh, your Aunt?"; with $600 dollars, Eddie boasted: "We're a couple of rich men now" - implying that they could pay for a motel room; as they drove along and the snow worsened, Eddie asked: "You think we're in Ohio yet?"; Willie answered: "Nah, I think we're still in Pennsylvania" - although they were passing under a freeway sign for Willoughby Hills (OH) - about 20 miles NE of Cleveland; Eddie mentioned how Willie had become very 'Americanized': "You know, last year, before I met your cousin, I never knew you were from Hungary or Budapest or any of those places....I thought you were an American"; Willie wished to deny any hint of being Hungarian: "Hey, I'm as American as you are"; as they passed some spires of Eastern European churches on the outskirts of Cleveland, Eddie inquired: "Does Cleveland look a little like, uh, Budapest?" - but Willie reacted: "Eddie, shut up!"
• in the snow-covered, gray and bleak industrial city after passing the Greyhound bus station, the Nite Life Lounge, and some factory smokestacks, as it was turning dark, they pulled up to an old wooden house (surrounded by a chain-link fence) in a decaying, lower-class neighborhood

Aunt Lotte's House in Cleveland

Aunt Lotte With Willie and Eddie

Meeting Up With Eva at Her Work

• Aunt Lotte (mostly speaking Hungarian) tentatively greeted them at her door, invited them in once she understood Willie was her nephew (with his friend Eddie), and served them a late dinner meal of soup and bread in the living room in front of the TV; Eva was at work until 10 pm, tending a fast-food burger/hot dog restaurant; the two met up with Eva toward the end of her work-shift, telling her: "Well, we're on vacation, like, you know" - with a borrowed car for a few days; not comfortable in the place: (Willie: "I don't like it in here"), they waited in their car for about 20 minutes before driving Eva back home; as she left the restaurant, she spoke briefly to her boyfriend Billy (Danny Rosen) about a future movie-date
• the next evening during their monotonously-boring visit, Eva reluctantly agreed to have her two pals join ("baby-sit") her and her boyfriend Billy to attend a Kung-Fu movie; Eddie and Willie sat on either side of Eva, while Billy (with a large container of popcorn) was on Eddie's right; there was no social interaction or audible conversation between the foursome, except for the sounds of violent fighting coming from the screen; later, it was revealed that Billy paid for Willie's and Eddie's tickets; as Eva walked Billy to his door at the end of the night, Willie asked Eddie in the car: "Man, what are we doin' here?" - to which Eddie answered: "I don't know"
• the next day while walking around the stark, cold, alien, and inhospitable snow-covered neighborhood of northern Ohio, Eddie again expressed his impatience about their aimless visit - he was ready to leave: "You wanna stick around much longer here in Cleveland?"; Willie agreed: "We could go back tomorrow or the next day or somethin'"; the next line by Eddie summarized their bankrupt world-view: "You know, it's funny. You come to someplace new, and everything looks just the same"; Willie agreed: "No kiddin', Eddie"
• in the kitchen with Eva, Willie admitted: "It's so cold here," and Eva agreed: "Yeah. I kinda wanna get out of here"; Willie made a botched attempt to liven things up by telling Eva a half-remembered joke without a punchline:
  • "Here, let me tell you a joke, all right? There's three guys, and they're walking down the street. One guy says to the other one, 'Hey, your shoe's untied.' He says, 'I know that.' And they walk... No... There's two guys, they're walking down the street, and one of them says to the other one, 'Your shoe's untied.' And the other guy says, 'I know that.' And they walk a couple blocks further, and they see a third friend, and he comes up and says, 'Your shoe's untied.' 'Your shoe's un - ' Aaah, I can't remember this joke. But it's good."
• during their last afternoon there before Eddie and Willie planned to leave Cleveland, they played cards with Aunt Lotte in the living room, who won against them three times in a row; Eva suggested that they visit "the big lake"; the threesome came upon the stark winter dullness and coldness near the frozen, wind-swept wasteland of the surface of Lake Erie; gazing at the sight of the almost invisible lake, Eva remarked: "It was really nice of you guys to come all the way here to see me," but then added: "It's kind of a drag here, really"
• the next morning outside Aunt Lotte's house as Eva kissed the two goodbye, she jokingly suggested that they could rescue her: "If you guys win a lot of money at the racetracks, you should come and try to kidnap me"; Willie agreed: "Yeah. We'll take you someplace warm. This place is awful"
• PARADISE: the two were left with $550 dollars as they left Cleveland; Willie asked: "You ever been to Florida?"; Eddie responded: "Yeah, it's beautiful down there...You know, white beaches, and girls with bikinis. Cape Canaveral, Miami Beach...They got pelicans down there, and flamingos, all those weird birds," but when asked if he had ever been there, Eddie admitted he hadn't; Willie suggested that they go back, pick up Eva, and drive south to the warmer climes of Florida; Eddie agreed: "Well, hell, it beats going back to New York"

A Brief Return to Cleveland To Pick Up Eva - Bound For Florida

Eva Thankful For Being Rescued and Taken to Florida

• after only a short distance, they detoured back to Cleveland, where Aunt Lotte angrily protested Eva's departure in Hungarian, as Willie tried to calm her down: "We're going on a little vacation...We'll be back soon"; as they drove off, Eva thanked them for the rescue: "Thank you guys for rescuing me. I can't believe we're going to Florida"; to off-set the boredom of the trip, Eva began playing her tape-recording of Screamin' Jay Hawkins; of course, Willie thought it was horrible, but Eddie took Eva's side and liked it ("This is drivin' music!")
• on their off-kilter trek to the tacky world of Miami, FL, they pulled out of a drab, low-cost Satellite Motel; at a gasoline station rest-stop in Florida, Willie emerged with three identical sets of sunglasses so they could 'dress' like tourists: "Now we look like real tourists"; Eddie agreed: "Pretty classy"; at their next motel stop, the Sea Chest Motel, Willie urged Eva to hide in the back seat to avoid paying for three people in their shared motel room - she complained: "I thought you guys said you were rich"; Eddie was forced to sleep on the rollaway cot, while Willie and Eva took the separate twin beds; Willie urged everyone to rest: "Go to sleep so we can start enjoying our vacation. All right?"
• the next morning, although Eva had asked about going to the beach, Eddie and Willie had already left without a note and abandoned her for the entire day; the unambitious Willie and Eddie had fallen back again into their routine of alienation, and were out betting on the dog races; Eva sat back and smoked a cigarette, awaiting their return, muttering: "Can't f--king believe it. Vacation starts great"
• Florida turned out to be no different than anywhere else - it featured the same flatness, homogeneity and sameness of everything; she wandered off to a nearby beach; eventually, later in the day, the two buddies returned from the dog races - and she expressed her frustrations to them:
  • "I'm here alone in the middle of nowhere. I don't know anybody. And you can't do that much - leave me a note when you leave....What is this? I thought we were going to Miami. This is nowhere"
• she soon learned that the two had lost almost everything but $50 dollars at the dog races, even though Eddie had thought he "had a good feeling"; Eva bluntly asked: "What are we gonna do now?"; as the group walked on the beach, they wordlessly pondered their plight - they were no better off in Florida than in Cleveland or NYC; in the motel room, Eddie thought they should call it quits and return to NY, but Willie was determined to keep betting at the horse races and recoup their losses; Eddie was very uncertain: "I have this terrible feeling if we go back to the track"; as before when they went to the races in NY, Willie rudely insisted that Eva remain in the room and not join them even though Eddie thought she might bring them "good luck"; she was furious with Willie's disregard for her
• to idly spend some time during their absence, Eva (wearing a black overcoat and a newly-acquired straw hat) went walking again near the beach where she was misidentified as a drug dealer by an agitated stranger (Rammellzee, credited as Man with Money) - she was handed a thick envelope with wads of money inside; after Eva departed, moments later, a similarly-dressed female walked up - the intended recipient of the drug money transaction, and wondered where her contact was

Eva Handed Drug Money - a Case of Mistaken Identity

• upon her return to the motel room where she discovered the cash in the envelope, Eva wrote a note (used as wrapping for some of the money) that explained her opportunistic plan to the two males; she assembled her belongings and left
• meanwhile, Eddie and Willie - who had won by betting with their last bit of money at the horse races, returned slightly drunk to the motel; they were surprised to find the money wrapped in Eva's note (written in Hungarian), that also told them how she would be going to the airport [Note: There were no other specifics about Eva's plans]; after reading Eva's vague note, the two decided to attempt to stop her from leaving; Eddie kept asking himself: "Where did she get all this money?", and he also wondered where she had acquired her left-behind straw hat
• at the airport, Eva learned from the Airline Agent (Tom DiCillo) that there was only one Royal Airlines non-stop flight left for the day (to Budapest) that was departing in about 45 minutes time; the scene ended with her pondering what to do: ("Hmmm")
• at the same ticket counter about 20-30 minutes later, Willie spoke to the same agent, and then told Eddie that the agent was a "jerk" - a bit of projection; Willie inferred (incorrectly) from the agent that Eva had bought a ticket on the plane to Budapest - although the film did NOT show her buying a ticket
• Willie informed Eddie that he had purchased a ticket for himself - to get onto the plane in order to convince Eva to remain: ("I had to buy the ticket so I can get on the plane to take her off the plane"); Willie promised that after retrieving Eva, he would be meeting Eddie back at the car in about 10 minutes time

Eddie Watching Plane Departure (Was It Actually Headed For Budapest? and Was Willie Actually on the Plane? How would he know?)

Eva's Return to the Empty Motel Room

• in the film's bizarre and inconclusive ending sometime later, as Eddie stood outside by the car waiting for Willie to return, he watched as a plane took off, and assumed it was the plane that Willie had boarded; however, he had no confirmation that Willie had actually boarded the plane, or that the plane was bound for Budapest; before driving off, he spoke the film's final line of dialogue to himself:
  • "Aw, Willie. I had a bad feeling. Damn. What the hell are you gonna do in Budapest? S--t!"
• [Note: The ending scene was a clever book-end to the beginning scene of Eva standing near an airport runway. On the outskirts (as always), Eddie drove off without sticking around a little longer to find out what might have happened. Would he drive back to the motel, or not? If Willie was actually on a plane to Budapest, it would be highly ironic and a comical last-minute twist. Instead of finding herself on the way back to Europe, Eva had completely reversed or inverted roles with Willie, who was presumably returning to his ancestral home in her place.]
• in the film's final revealing scene, Eva appeared to be very conflicted about life in the US, especially with her cousin, and had apparently changed her mind about leaving; she returned to the motel room and realized that Eddie and Willie had vacated the room; she sat down - showing her frustration and confusion about again finding herself valiantly suffering alone with an unfulfilled dream of a better life