This film is part of Volume 2 of our summer series, Cinemaatjes, which centers around friendship.
A milestone in the history of American independent cinema by Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise follows three drifting friends who have little idea what to do with their lives.
This deadpan road movie stars jazz musician John Lurie (Down by Law) as the unbearable slacker Willie. Along with his sixteen-year-old Hungarian cousin and a friend, he roams in a borrowed car from New York to Cleveland and on to Florida—only to discover that life is just as bleak and aimless there as anywhere else.
Stranger than Paradise was Jim Jarmusch’s first major success and established him as one of the leading voices in American independent filmmaking. With a style that is both minimalist and innovative, this classic offers a bleak and washed-out portrait of the American Dream. Told in three parts, the nearly plotless story is shot in black and white and features music by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.