American Cinematographer - March 1985 - 49

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Eddie, Eva and
Willie head south
vacation.

Two years ago Jim Jarmusch had
an idea to make a short half hour

film with his friends who
tors,

were ac¬

musicians and fellow alumni

of New York University film
school. He made the film for

$8,000 and while he edited the
short, Jarmusch wrote the second
two-thirds for a feature. The film
made the rounds in Europe and
won several critic awards. Armed
with the minor success of his first

feature, Permanent Vaction, and
the short, the poet-turned-film¬
maker approached various pro¬
ducers for additional funds
Paradise.

meeting pro¬
ducers," recalls Jarmusch, "giving
them my script and discussing
many possibilities. Some of them
were

was

liars and

some

of them

were

sincerely interested in giving me a
good deal. I wanted to own part of
it and I wasn't interested in giving
away something in which I had so
much invested. Finally, this guy
came along who had a great story
about how he would produce the
film, own half and stay out of the
production completely. A few
people had said this to me before,
but, when I saw the terms on pa¬
it said something entirely

per,

different."
The guy was

kenberger,

independent filmmaking. To Jarmusch's surprise,
Grokenberger's contract arrived
substantiating the verbal agree¬
ment and a partnership was
formed.

Stranger showed promise,
but at the time no one foresaw
that it would become an interna¬
tional sensation, winning the Cam¬
era D'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film

Festival, Best Film,

Otto Gro-

a young influential pro¬
ducer who was active in German

at

Focarno,

Switzerland and becoming a cause
celebre of independent filmmakers

everywhere.
a

little confused

by Stranger's success," states Jar¬
musch. "I thought that formally
and structurally the film would
keep audiences at a distance and it
a

cult film in Eu¬

rope and there'd
in America."

be little interest

would become

three young individuals who are
isolated in their own small world
due to their inability to communi¬
cate their emotions. In the open¬

ing vignette, titled "The New
World," Eva, a young raven-haired
Hungarian girl in her late teens, ar¬
rives in New York. En

Cleveland

to

route

to

live with her Aunt

Lotte, Eva stays with her cousin
Willie, also a Hungarian who im¬
migrated to the "New World" ten
years earlier. To both Eva and
Willie's

disappointment, the one
stay turns into ten days.
Eva's visit in one of the most excit¬

night

"I'm still

to

complete the film, Stranger Than
"I

television and

Filmed in grainy black
and white on 35mm stock and
shot in forced perspective, the film
presents a stark look at reality that
tells a simple story in a series of

ing cities in the world is limited to
pathetically small oneroom apartment and American
culture is garnered from TV
shows, comic books and Willie's
limited perspective. Eddie, Willie's
buddy, is her only other contact.
Slowly Willie's attitude changes
towards his light lipped, matter-ofWillie's

fact cousin and the
strained closeness.
"One Year

two

find

a

Later," the

vignettes. Told with minimal di¬
alogue, action and emotion, the
strong visuals are heightened by
stylized rhythm and editing/cut¬
ting to black. The bleak imagery,
reenforced by an eclectic sound¬
track allows Jarmusch's deadpan
humor to surface, imbuing the film
with quirky vitality.
In synopsis, Stranger
Than Paradise, is a story about

second segment, Willie and Eddie
win a bundle of money in a
crooked poker game and decide to

March 1985

American

split for Cleveland and visit Eva.
The two long faced buddies whom
the film's editor, Melody London,
calls updated versions of Ralph
and Norton of the Honeymooners-arrive in Cleveland in
mid-winter to find Eva living a
bleak existence.

Cinematographer

47

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American Cinematographer - March 1985

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