STRANGER THAN PARADISE

There are not many films in your video store that are stranger than Stranger Than Paradise. 

The loose plot is in three parts: A young Hungarian woman named Eva goes to visit her cousin Willie in New York, then leaves to go stay with her aunt in Cleveland; Willie and his friend Eddie borrow a car and drive to Cleveland to visit Eva; The three of them drive to Florida. Now, it may sound like potential for a lot of action, but these characters sit around, watch TV, smoke, drink beer, and occasionally gamble to make some money.

For the most part, they have nothing to say to each other. And often you watch this in real time, in black and white, with unedited scenes that transition simply by the screen fading to black for a beat a tad too long to be casual. It’s simultaneously hilarious and excruciating. In other words: a classic of independent cinema.

After hanging out with these characters for an hour and a half, you start to think like Eva: Willie and Eddie are total losers, but for some inexplicable reason you kind of like hanging out with them.