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List Price: $39.95Amazon.com's Price: $24.99 You Save: $14.96 (37%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0715515024020
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Digital Sound, Mono, NTSC
Label: Criterion Collection
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Criterion Collection
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 04, 2007
Running Time: 89 minutes
Sales Rank: 20214
Studio: Criterion Collection
Theatrical Release Date: 1984
Editorial Review:
Description:
Rootless Hungarian émigré Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie (Richard Edson), and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) always manage to make the least of any situation, whether aimlessly traversing the drab interiors and environs of New York City, Cleveland, or an anonymous Florida suburb. With its delicate humor and dramatic nonchalance, Jim Jarmusch’s one-of-a-kind minimalist masterpiece, Stranger Than Paradise, forever transformed the landscape of American independent cinema. Also included in this special-edition release is Jarmusch’s legendary debut feature, Permanent Vacation, a time capsule of late-seventies Manhattan, on DVD for the first time in the United States
Amazon.com:
Back in the excess-is-best 1980s, the pared-down minimalism of 1984's Stranger than Paradise played like the product of another time--or even another planet. It was so 'off,' i.e. offbeat and off-kilter, it was (right) on. Now seen as a classic of American independent cinema, it compares favorably to other monochromatic first features, like Border Radio and Mala Noche (also lovingly restored by the movie mavens at the Criterion Collection). The acclaim was justified--except it wasn't Jarmusch's first film. That honor belongs to 1980's Permanent Vacation, making its long-awaited digital debut on this two-disc set. Shot by Tom DiCillo, Jarmusch's initial offering revolves around the name Parker: Chris Parker is Aloysious Parker, a ducktailed New Yorker with a jones for Charlie Parker. Allie's a drifter and a dime-store philosopher. 'That's how thing work for me,' he drawls in voice-over, 'I go from this place, this person, to that place or person.' And so he does. Fresh from NYU, where he assisted Nicholas Ray, Jarmusch displays an innate talent for framing and dialogue (Allie lives for 'vibrating, bugged-out sound'). His touch with actors--Frankie Faison's raconteur aside--is less assured, but he learned quickly. Lounge Lizard John Lurie cameos as a sax player. DiCillo returns for Stranger than Paradise, in which he and Jarmusch trade color for black and white stock (donated by Wim Wenders). In this 'semi-neorealist black comedy,' as the filmmaker puts it in the production notes (included with this set), Hungarian teenager Eva (Eszter Balint) arrives in New York ('The New World') to stay with her cousin, Willie (Lurie). A drifter, like Allie, she continues on to Cleveland ('One Year Later') and Florida ('Paradise'). With nothing better to do, Willie and Eddie (Richard Edson) tag along. As opposed to the rapid-fire cutting of the day, Jarmusch uses static shots divided by black screen. He may have taken cues from Ozu and The Honeymooners--dig those porkpie hats--but the end product couldn’t be more idiosyncratic.
This director-approved double-feature comes complete with a German TV documentary (Kino '84: Jim Jarmusch), behind-the-scenes footage, US and Japanese trailers, and a 44-page booklet with essays by J. Hoberman and Luc Sante. Just as Stranger than Paradise stands as one of the defining films of the 1980s, this special edition represents one of the most essential DVD releases of the 2000s. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Not That Strange, and Not A Paradise
I love many Indie films, obviously with a two star rating I do not like Stranger Than Paradise. I'm not going to use my college term paper that I wrote to show how smart I am posting it here (I never went to film class in College, that's a joke), I'm just going to give a LITTLE balance to what I feel was a real rip off. This film is engaging the first time you watch it but if you value your time, it totally rips you off in the end leaving you hanging and felling like you just lost at three card Monty, ... Read More
Rating:  - Great DVD, but shipping was late
This is one of my favorite movies, this criterion collection is awesome !!! No problem with the dvd at all, but it arrived 2 weeks later.
Rating: - The road to nowhere
This is a unique minimalist tale, more atmosphere than action, about America seen through the eyes of a winsome young Hungarian woman (Eszter Balint) who comes to stay with her deadbeat cousin (John Lurie) in a desolate area of New York City before moving on to an equally desolate Cleveland suburb. The pretty exile from then-Communist Eastern Europe finds a New World that is not the Promised Land of capitalism, but a vacant landscape of low-rent neighborhoods, motels, hot dog restaurants, bus stations, ... Read More
Rating: - Diane Arbus, With Charm
The many virtues of Jarmusch's second feature, the 1984 "Stranger Than Paradise," have largely been pointed out here already. Thus the novel structure of single take scenes divided by black frames, the low key, seemingly natural acting, and the wonderful photography which creates a requisite ugly "sameness," whether the locale is the Lower East Side, wintry Cleveland or the Florida boondocks, need not be discussed again at length here.
One aspect of this memorable film which should be more ... Read More
Rating:  - Cultural Aspirations
Well, an original debut for a young director, but don't expect plot and pacing. The actors take their time, maybe improvising. John Laurie is a young horse and card playing con trying to forget that his relatives are all from Hungry. Enter his cousin, Eszter Balint from the old country and he get's a dose of what he's trying to forget. The irony, both Laurie and Balint have a real love for things American, the music, the clothes, and attitudes, but as if a Saturday Night Live skit from the 80's rematerialized, ... Read More
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