Stranger Than Paradise
Where the DNA of Stranger Than Paradise travels
Films that shaped it
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Godard's early work, especially *Breathless*, was essential for me. The idea that you could ignore conventional storytelling, that you could have jump cuts and a character just talking to the camera, it was liberating. It gave me the courage to make films like *Stranger Than Paradise*.
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Bresson is a saint. He’s the first director I saw that made me think, ‘Okay, this is what filmmaking is about.’ Before Bresson, I liked movies, but they were just movies. Then I saw Bresson, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is its own art form.’ His rules, his purity, the removal of theatrical acting, the way he uses sound… I love ‘Au Hasard Balthazar.’ I love ‘Pickpocket.’ I love almost all his films.
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When I was a student I was very interested in the German New Wave, directors like Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Wenders was one of my favorites, and I was particularly struck by Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road, which have this beautifully melancholic atmosphere and a sort of freedom to them. They were like poetic documentaries of Germany, and I remember thinking, 'I want to make a movie that has that feeling about America.' That was part of the genesis of Stranger Than Paradise.
Films it shaped
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I was looking to find some inspiration about the road movie, and that was Jim Jarmusch, especially 'Stranger Than Paradise' and 'Down By Law.' And for the more melancholic, a little bit more reflective parts, there was Wim Wenders with 'Paris, Texas'.
