Stranger than Paradise - The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

With this breakout film, Jim Jarmusch established himself as one of the most exciting voices in the burgeoning independent-film scene, a road-movie poet with an affinity for Americana at its most offbeat. Jarmusch follows rootless Hungarian émigré Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie (Richard Edson), and his visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) as they drift from New York's Lower East Side to the snowy expanses of Lake Erie and the drab beaches of Florida, always managing to make the least of wherever they end up. Structured as a series of master-shot vignettes etched in black and white by cinematographer Tom DiCillo, Stranger Than Paradise is a nonchalant masterpiece of deadpan comedy and perfectly calibrated minimalism.

• United States
• 89 minutes
• Black and White
• 1.37:1
• English
• Spine #400
• 1984

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Jim Jarmusch and cinematographer Tom DiCillo, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New conversation between Jarmusch and actor John Lurie
- New interview with Eszter Balint
- New video essay by film critic Michael Atkinson
- Permanent Vacation (1980), Jarmusch's debut feature
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Luc Sante