I've only recently started diving into the works of highly respected auteur, Jim Jarmusch. Between Permanent Vacation, Stranger Than Paradise, and Night on Earth, I've been struck with a wealth of exploratory themes and character relationships. Stranger Than Paradise will be my focus, as it's the one that I've seen most recently, as well as the one that struck the strongest chord with me.
Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 film about three youths living in the Northern United States. Willie, a crooked hipster; his Hungarian cousin, Eva; and his equally crooked yet jovial friend, Eddie. In the first act of the film, Willie becomes the reluctant temporary host to his younger cousin Eva. Eventually she leaves to stay with their Aunt in Philadelphia, before being met by Willie and Eddie again a year later. This is a film that I think should be talked about more with the current wave of aspiring filmmakers that have been pinned with the "millennial" identity, and all that comes with it.
The idea of patriotism, and what it means to be American is quietly toyed with here. Willie doesn't seem particularly proud of his Hungarian roots; from forcing his Aunt to speak English, to scoffing at the idea that he isn't truly American. When I first noticed this trait in Willie, I immediately drew parallels to our society. With immigration being so prevalent in our society, there are an abundance of offspring that may identify with his struggle between heritage and just being here in America. What does it mean to be an American?
There's a disenfranchised, wandering-misfit element to the trio. Jarmusch's earlier film, Permanent Vacation uses this as it's focal point. The main character is literally a drifter. Here, it is more of tonal thing. It lends itself to how the film treats itself and the characters. None of them seem particularly happy with their station in life. Even Eddie. They are in constant search of something better, more fun. In the third act of the movie, they embark on a road trip to Florida, in praise of its white sand beaches and colorful atmosphere. Funny, as a Florida film student, most of us want to escape into the creative atmosphere of the New York, where Willie & Eddie leave from. Young people are in this state of wanting things to be better than they are, before finding something that makes them happy, or dissolving into the world. This is a resonant factor in all generations; millennials, and decades prior.
The quietness of the film becomes one of it's most sophisticated features, and on that I think aspiring filmmakers can take note from. In film, we are always trying to fill spaces. With dialogue, action, etc. But sometimes, it's ok for those spaces to fill themselves. A scene like Eva sitting alone in a motel in Florida while Willie and Eddie go to the horse track isn't dead space or lost time; it's a reflection of what it is to be alone, and the trust that we put in family in spite of ourselves. There's not much dialogue in moments like these. We just get to see them, for who they truly are.
