Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Jarmusch; from Akron Ohio, captures the desolate bleakness of the midwest, his style of editing in this film mimics as such. Harsh black and white makes the bitter cold of the winter more apparent; a feature in which brought Jim to the forefront of the independent filmmakers of the time. This year his famous film Dead Man (1995) starring Johnny Depp will be receiving a complete digital restoration. We wanted to start the year with a chance to see the beginning building blocks of a truly remarkable filmmaker. It is unmissable for Akron, unmissable for Cinephiles, unmissable for everyone. We will have a guest speaker (to be announced) along with a curated cocktail menu.

“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.
“You know, it’s funny… you come to someplace new, an’… and everything looks just the same.” -Roger Ebert