MOVIE · 1984

Stranger Than Paradise

ComedyDrama89 min

New York layabout Willie (John Lurie) forms an uneasy bond with his teenage Hungarian cousin Eva after she arrives unannounced to stay with him on the Lower East Side. When Eva, played by Eszter Balint, moves on to live with an aunt in Cleveland, Willie and his friend Eddie (Richard Edson) head out to see her, turning a family visit into a drifting trip that carries them from wintery Lake Erie to Florida. Shot in black and white and built from spare, self-contained scenes, the film follows its trio through apartments, diners, motel rooms, and long stretches of American road.