Stranger than Paradise

The Jim Jarmusch Collection (Volume 1) is as you've probably guessed, yet another reshuffle of his work, sealed up in a neat little DVD box. It's his early stuff, which is very art-house and an obvious post-college project.

It includes three of his first films: Permanent Vacation, Stranger Than Paradise and Down By Law. Those who are aware of Jim Jarmusch are likely to understand his style and direction. He's a director who has become a 'film studies' cult hero, he has no desire to create things that people will love, only to tell a story is an unpredictable way.

Stranger Than Paradise is about Willie (John Lurie) who lives a pretty solitary life in New York, until he gets a visit from his Hungarian cousin Ava (Eszter Balint). That is about all that happens in this film, it's not about dialogue or plot, it's not even about acting; Stranger Than Paradise focuses on imagery and the alienation between the characters and their situations. The score is fairly ambient all bar the menacing I Put a Spell on You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, which is adds to the unsettling and bleak weight of the film.

Down By Law focuses on three main characters and how they come together as cell mates, despite their contrasting personalities outside. Tom Waits plays Zach, who's just been framed for murder. John Lurie is Jack (a pimp), who has just been caught with an underaged girl, but he too was framed. And then there is Italian Roberto, (Roberto Benigni) who killed a man in self-defense, and knows barely any English. They are lumbered together in a prison cell until they escape; and during their trip back to civilisation they also bond. This is another classic piece of Jarmusch black and white cinematography. This is truly the film that stands out in this collection, and of probably most of his works, I would even go as far as to say it is his best.

Allie (Chris Parker) in Permanent Vacation, can never quite get used to who he is and where he belongs.