A low-budget breakout film that wowed critics and audiences on its
initial release, Stranger than Paradise would prove to be a seminal
film in the new American independent cinema movement and establish its
director, Jim Jarmusch, as a hip, cult auteur. Taking inspiration from
1960s underground filmmaking, international art cinema, genre cinema,
and punk culture, Jarmusch's film provides a bridge between midnight
movie features and a new mode of quirky, offbeat independent filmmaking.
This book probes the film's production history, initial reception,
aesthetics, and legacy in order to understand its place within the cult
film canon. In examining the film's cult pedigree, it explores a number
of threads that fed into the film--including New York downtown culture
of the early 1980s and Jarmusch's involvement in music--as well as
reflecting on how the film's status has developed alongside Jarmusch's
subsequent output and reputation.