Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1980 • United States
Starring Chris Parker, Sara Driver, John Lurie
Jim Jarmusch’s first feature displays the first hints of the deadpan, minimalist-cool style that he would refine in his breakthrough STRANGER THAN PARADISE. Young, alienated hipster Aloysius Christopher Parker (Chris Parker) wanders an eerily vacant Manhattan searching for a sense of meaning while encountering an array of idiosyncratic characters. Downtown fixtures Sara Driver, Eric Mitchell, and John Lurie (who composed the film’s score) are among the eccentrics and vagabonds populating this existential urban odyssey.
Up Next in Microbudget Movies
-
Smithereens
Directed by Susan Seidelman • 1982 • United States
Susan Seidelman established her distinctive vision of New York City with this debut feature, the lo-fi original for her vibrant portraits of women reinventing themselves. After escaping New Jersey, the quintessentially punk Wren (Susan Berman)...
-
Stranger Than Paradise
Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1984 • United States, Germany
Starring John Lurie, Richard Edson, Eszter BalintWith this breakout film, Jim Jarmusch established himself as one of the most exciting voices in the burgeoning independent-film scene, a road-movie poet with an affinity for Americana at it...
-
Bless Their Little Hearts
Directed by Billy Woodberry • 1984 • United States
Starring Nate Hardman, Kaycee Moore, Angela BurnettScripted and shot by Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry’s slice-of-life revelation is a key masterpiece of the LA Rebellion, the black independent-cinema renaissance that emerged from UCLA’s film...