Top 10 Post-Black-and-White-Era Black-and-White Movies

Stranger Than Paradise

Samuel Goldwyn Films / Everett

It should be unwatchable: a plotless and meandering movie, shot on a bare-bones budget, performed by a cast made up mostly of nonprofessional actors. But Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise is eminently watchable and, in fact, best appreciated after repeat viewings. More than that, the movie — a series of events involving a trio of disaffected and lonely souls — played a significant role in the explosive growth of the American independent-film scene and influenced a generation of young directors who sought to duplicate its restless-cool vibe. Speaking about the film’s effective use of black-screen “slugs” to separate individual scenes, Jarmusch told an interviewer that he was influenced by his love of literary forms: “Poetry is very beautiful, but the space on the page can be as affecting as where the text is. Like when Miles Davis doesn’t play, it has a poignancy to it.”

Next: Wings of Desire