Film Review: Stranger Than Paradise

Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Jim Jarmusch.
Not going to say much here cause frankly I don't have much to say. It was quite good though, and I enjoyed it; certainly worth the scant 89 minutes of its runtime. I even laughed out loud a couple times (especially when the old aunt says "son of a bitch"), but I didn't like it as much nor do I think it's as good as the other Jarmusch film I've seen recently, Down By Law. For one thing, Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni are not in this one, though Richard Edson does a good job. If such a thing as a scene-stealer exists, it's Edson here. And he's quite a bit better than either John Lurie or the girl.
Still, I did enjoy this film and I can say that it is good. I can imagine that the French must have loved this movie, because it very strongly reminded me of an old French film, such as a Godard: black and white, spare scenes, few actors, mundane but beautifully realistic dialogue subjects. Actually, one thing that is very notable about this film is the almost perfect utility of every scene. They are extremely efficient in that nothing superfluous ever happens. No exposition, no fluff, no fading in and out of the emotion of the scene. It just gets to the point and cuts to the next one. This is very impressive for such a dialogue-heavy film. Very impressive, and very instructive from a writing perspective.