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.
- ISBN10 0231851022
- ISBN13 9780231851022
- Publish Date 24 April 2018
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Wallflower Press
- Format eBook
- Language English