Stranger Than Paradise Poker Scene

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Jim Jarmusch’s sophomore feature Stranger Than Paradise (1984) has sixty-seven shots – mostly long static shots filmed with live sound – punctuated by fade in and fade outs and divided into three distinct parts (although unlike the traditional three-part Hollywood structure Jarmusch’s vision offers idiosyncratic non-narrative cinema dripping with deadpan irony). Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 absurdist comedy film about a New Yorker whose life is thrown into a tailspin when his younger cousin surprise visits him, starting a strange, unpredictable adventure. Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Stranger Than Paradise Ebert

The New World: The teenager Eva Molnar arrives in New York City from Budapest, Hungary, and visits her cousin Willie, A.K.A. Bela Molnar. Eva intends to travel to Cleveland to stay with her Aunt Lotte, but the old woman is in the hospital and Eva has to stay with the idle Wille, who is absolutely indifferent to her. They spend their empty days smoking Chesterfields, watching television and playing solitaire and Eva meets Willie’s friend Eddie. Then Willie and Eddie are connected to Eva and they miss her when she travels to Cleveland.

One Year Later: Willie and Eddie win a large amount in the poker game and they borrow a car and travel to Cleveland to visit Eva. They spend a few boring days in the house of Aunt Lotte. Paradise: Willie and Eddie invite Eva to vacate to Florida with them. Shortly after arriving there, they lose their money in dog racing. Willie decides to bet their last money in the horse racing and they win money. Meanwhile Eva is wrongly taken for another woman and receives a huge amount of cash from a stranger.

Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 American black-and-white absurdist/deadpan comedy film, written, directed, and co-edited by Jim Jarmusch and starring jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, and Hungarian-born actress and violinist Eszter Balint. The film features a minimalist plot in which the main character, Willie, has a cousin from Hungary named Eva. Eva stays with him for ten days before going to Cleveland. Willie and his friend Eddie eventually go to Cleveland to visit Eva, and the three then take a trip to Florida. This film is shot entirely in single long takes with no standard coverage.

About the Production

Writer and director Jim Jarmusch shot his first feature, Permanent Vacation (1980) as his final thesis while at New York University’s film school, and spent the following four years making Stranger than Paradise. At NYU, he had studied under director Nicholas Ray, who had brought him along as his personal assistant for the production of Lightning over Water, a portrait of Ray that was being filmed by Wim Wenders.

It was Wenders who granted Jarmusch the leftover film stock from his subsequent film Der Stand der Dinge (1982) that would enable the young director to shoot the 30-minute short subject film that would become Stranger Than Paradise. This short was released as a standalone film in 1982, and shown as “Stranger Than Paradise” at the 1983 International Film Festival Rotterdam. When it was later expanded into a three-act feature, that name was appropriated for the feature itself, and the initial segment was renamed “The New World”.

The film features an original soundtrack written by John Lurie, who also stars in the film. The music is performed by The Paradise Quartet, consisting of Jill B. Jaffe (viola), Mary L. Rowell (violin), Kay Stern (violin), and Eugene Moye (cello). The recording engineer for the sessions was Ollie Cotton. The original song “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins features prominently in the soundtrack.

Film Review for Stranger Than Paradise

“Stranger Than Paradise” is filmed in a series of uninterrupted shots; the picture fades in, we watch the scene, and when the scene is over, there’s a fade to black. Then comes the next fade-in. This is not a gimmick, but a visual equivalent of the film’s deadpan characters, who take a lot to get excited.

The movie’s hero is Willie (John Lurie), who arrived on these shores from Hungary about ten years ago, and has spent the intervening decade perfecting his New York accent and trying to make nothing out of himself. He lives in an apartment where the linoleum is the highlight. On a good day, he’ll sleep late, hang out, play a little poker.

His cousin Eva arrives from Budapest. This is the last thing he needs, a sixteen-year-old girl who needs a place to stay. She hates him, too. But she has to kill some time before she goes to Cleveland to live with her aunt Lottie. She has good taste in American music, but not according to him. Willie’s friend, Eddie, comes over occasionally and eyeballs Eva. Nothing much happens. She leaves for Cleveland.

The screen is filled with large letters: ONE YEAR LATER. This in itself is funny, that we’d get such a momentous time cue in a movie where who even knows what day it is. Eddie and Willie get in some trouble over a poker game and Eddie suddenly remembers Willie’s cousin in Cleveland. They go to see her. It is cold in Cleveland. Eva has bought the American Dream and is working in a fast-food outlet. They all go to look at the lake, which is frozen.

Stranger Than Paradise Poker Scene 2

Than

Aunt Lottie turns out to make Clara Peller look like Dame Peggy Ashcroft. The guys say to hell with it and head for Florida. Then they come back and get Eva and take her along with them. They have a postcard that makes Florida look like paradise, but they wind up living at one of those hotels where the permanent guests live in the woodwork. Everything goes sour. Eva wants to go back to Hungary. The guys lose all their money at the dog races. Creeps start hanging around. It will take a miracle to give this movie an upbeat ending. There is a miracle.

“Stranger Than Paradise” is a treasure from one end to the other. I saw it for the first time at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where it was having its first public showing. Half the people in the theater probably didn’t speak English, but that didn’t stop them from giving the movie a standing ovation, and it eventually won the Camera d’Or prize for the best first film. It is like no other film you’ve seen, and yet you feel right at home in it. It seems to be going nowhere, and knows every step it wants to make. It is a constant, almost kaleidoscopic experience of discovery, and we try to figure out what the film is up to and it just keeps moving steadfastly ahead, fade in, fade out, fade in, fade out, making a mountain out of a molehill.

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson, Cecillia Stark, Tom DiCillo, Richard Boes, Rockets Redglare, Brian J. Burchill, Sara Driver, Paul Sloane
Screenplay by: Jim Jarmusch
Production Design by: Sara Driver
Cinematography by: Tom DiCillo
Film Editing by: Jim Jarmusch, Melody London
Music by: John Lurie
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release Date: October 1, 1984

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