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Had the good fortune of meeting Eszter Balint this evening following a gig with Marc Ribot--no point to this post other than to say I'm smitten: wouldn't have thought she would be so friendly, casual...and....well...hot. She doesn't look a day over 30. Crazy Hungarian genetic code.

I have finally found a Jarmusch film I adore: Stranger than Paradise. Now THIS is a movie. One hell of a first film.

I haven't seen a film driven 100% through Mise en scène like this in years. The stark and desolate black and white grainy photography filming the most naked and tired backdrops of a broken city and a winter wasteland was just incredible when considering the central driving character was a young girl coming to America from behind the Iron Curtain. Every scene with her made me feel somewhat embarrassed for her. America is supposed to be 'paradise' and she gets here to find it is a hopeless dump no different than much of the Communist Bloc; just with more Pepsi signs! Though, Hungary was probably the better of all of the bloc countries at this time. I have never seen juxtaposition this mesmerizing in regards to this subject of the cold war. I had such a good time imagining the thoughts in her head as she toured this country. When they get to the Aunt's house in Cleveland, I had to wonder that the only difference between her life in this barren land and in Communist Hungary had to be just 20 more television channels. Jarmusch is so incredibly meticulous with detail in this film and still manages to come off as a minimalist. To top it off, Eva experiences the brutal side of western excess as her two friends (cousin) gamble all of their money away and are left with absolutely nothing. Top it off with a nice trick ending. Perfect. \:D/ I had been putting this film off for years since I have had a very cold response to Jarmusch, and now I am kicking myself.

I can't wait to see this again.

aox wrote:I have finally found a Jarmusch film I adore: Stranger than Paradise. Now THIS is a movie. One hell of a first film.

It is his second film. His first is "Permanent Vacation", on disc 2.

You're doing Jarmusch no favors by remembering that

The pink disc is cool to look at though.

Forthcoming book Stranger Than Paradise by Jamie Sexton to be published this August.

Criterion's Website wrote:The Criterion Collection is proud to announce that it will be releasing one of the landmarks of independent cinema, downtown icon Jim Jarmusch’s epic ode to everything Stranger Than Paradise, in the form the filmmaker originally intended.

While working on Criterion’s upcoming release of Dead Man, Jarmusch revealed that his breakthrough film had originally been conceived as a 3D experience. “When we originally filmed the movie,” he said, “we tried duct-taping two Bolex cameras together, but at the time we just weren’t able to combine the two images correctly for 3D . . . until now!”

Criterion’s Jon Mulvaney says that by any measure this will be one of the company’s proudest achievements. “Here at Criterion, we’ve always been committed to presenting each film as its maker would want it seen, fully restored, in the correct aspect ratio, and so on, but this isn’t just a matter of a few dirt and scratch fixes or an alternate shot here and there. This is a chance to make a filmmaker’s dream come true.”

When it was released in 1984, Stranger Than Paradise set the standard for immersive indie experiences, but few knew that they had only seen half the film. The secondary camera reels, long thought lost, were discovered in Jarmusch’s basement in stunning mint condition. Scanned in 4K, the reels were composited using state-of-the-art 3D-Lineator® MARK IV™ software to create the ultra-real impression that Jarmusch always hoped for. You can practically smell the sidewalks of the East Village and the shores of Lake Erie! Look for STP3D at select theaters later this year.

Stranger Than Paradise

Unfortunately the 3D version of Stranger Than Paradise felt a step backwards after the VR shot Permanent Vacation. It was almost as if I lived in a crappy apartment!

I actually would very much watch a 3D version of Stranger Than Paradise. Just think of that shot at 00:47!

3D upgrade coming in April

Where does it say 3D? It's not even a 2k/4k restoration

Look upthread

I was joking... I'm well aware of the joke. It is weird though that these are just HD remasters though

maybe the film didn't need to be "restored"?

The same remasters were used on the Soda set in the UK. I haven’t got around to seeing Night on Earth yet but Stranger Than Paradise does look really good even on the older master. I am sure it can definitely be improved with a newer scan but the current master is nothing to scoff at.

DVDBeaver's review reveals Criterion snuck in the commentary from the laserdisc that was not on the original DVD release, meaning this one is a reissue, not an upgrade!

I believe that commentary wasn't even included on the laserdisc; none of the specs I can find mention it. It would have been recorded for the laserdisc, but from what I can tell, was never actually released. I did find a reference to it in this post from last year

Supporting_Character wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:44 pm Jim Jarmusch and Richard Edson recorded an audio commentary for the STRANGER THAN PARADISE laser disc that didn't make it on to the disc. My memory might be inaccurate, but I think I was told Jarmusch wasn't comfortable with some of the comments he made, and he had Criterion remove so much of what he said that the track was no longer worth including.

If true, I wonder if the track on the Blu-Ray is after the requested editing and Criterion has changed their mind on including it, or if Jarmusch changed his mind & is now allowing it to be released as originally put together.

There was indeed no commentary on the actual LD, Jarmusch having vetoed it even after a complete redo (meaning he actually recorded two commentaries for the LD—not sure if Edson was involved with both). I notice that the Criterion website now mentions the commentary (and has since at least March 2nd, per the Wayback Machine), as do Screen Archives and this Brazilian blog post from late February, so it seems Criterion updated the specs around a month ago and hardly anyone noticed.

Night on Earth
Beaver
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