This is about a self-styled New York hipster who is paid a surprise and quite unwelcome visit by his pretty sixteen-year-old Hungarian cousin. From initial hostility and indifference a strange affection grows between the two exiles. Due to complete boredom they decide to visit their aunt in the wastelands of Cleveland and then proceed to sunny Florida where they lose all their money and unwittingly gain a fortune. With a final ironic twist, they are at the end, back where they began.

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
  • Rating: (12,715 votes)
  • Runtime:89 minutes
  • Director: Jim Jarmusch
  • Countries:USA, West Germany
  • Actors:
    Willie
    John Lurie
    Eva
    Eszter Balint
    Eddie
    Richard Edson
    Aunt Lotte
    Cecillia Stark
    Billy
    Danny Rosen
    Man With Money
    Rammellzee
    Airline Agent
    Tom DiCillo
    Factory Worker
    Richard Boes
    Poker player
    Rockets Redglare
    Poker player
    Harvey Perr
  • Genres:Comedy, Drama
  • Producers:
    Sara Driver
    producer  
    Otto Grokenberger
    executive producer  
  • Plots: This is about a self-styled New York hipster who is paid a surprise and quite unwelcome visit by his pretty sixteen-year-old Hungarian cousin. From initial hostility and indifference a strange affection grows between the two exiles. Due to complete boredom they decide to visit their aunt in the wastelands of Cleveland and then proceed to sunny Florida where they lose all their money and unwittingly gain a fortune. With a final ironic twist, they are at the end, back where they began. Written by J.Arnold Free <arnold@mayahtt.ca>
Stranger Than Paradise
  • User's comment:I'm choking the alligator. by blahblah-3

    Odd and inspiring. This film rings true with rich detail in its depictions of utter loneliness. Smoking many Chesterfields, watching television, playing solitaire, visiting Aunt Lottie, sightseeing at Lake Erie (for God's sake). It alters from tragic to comic from almost moment to moment, and often has a foot in both pools.

    Jarmusch is minimalist to the core with this one, and yet manages to pull off a solid story. A small black and white gem that deserves a larger audience.


  • Quotes: Eva: I'm choking the alligator. Aunt Lotte: I am the vinner. Aunt Lotte: Son of a beeetch.
  • Also known as: Extraños en el paraíso (Spain), Extraños en el paraíso (Uruguay), Estranhos no Paraíso (Brazil), Florida, a paradicsom (Hungary), Inaczej niz w raju (Poland), Muukalaisten paratiisi (Finland), Para Além do Paraíso (Portugal), Pera ap' ton Paradeiso (Greece - reissue title), Pera apo ton Paradeiso (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Stranger Than Paradise (France - imdb display title), Strangers than paradise (Più strano del paradiso) (Italy),

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