stranger than paradise
I was driving a big truck around the abandoned industrial streets of West Oakland tonight and it made me think of one my favorite scenes in the movies. It occurs in Jim Jarmusch's movie Stranger than Paradise when Willie and his buddy, Eddie, have driven to Cleveland to visit Willy's recently-arrived Hungarian cousin, Eva, (the beautiful Esther Balint...whatever happened to her?) who is living with their Aunt in less than happy conditions, and working as a waitress in a diner. It's winter in Cleveland. It's dark and it's cold. It's brutal. Big factories line the streets. The wind blows snow. Eddie, played deadpan by Richard Edson (original drummer for Sonic Youth, btw) and Eva and Willy go for a drive. They stop. Get out. They face the cold, empty streets of the industrial American city that is Cleveland. Eddie observes, matter of factly, " Hey, Willie, this looks just like Brooklyn. " I laughed at that. My American buddy laughed too. We were