Eszter Balint makes small reactions worth waiting for. Her deadpan work in Stranger Than Paradise is funny without pressing for a laugh, though its reserve can leave us wanting more warmth.
Fi1m perspective
Eszter Balint does not hurry to fill a pause. In Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise (1984), her Eva belongs in the same quiet company as John Lurie’s Willie and Richard Edson’s Eddie. None of the three needs to announce that something funny is happening. We laughed at their small responses because the actors left us to recognise the joke for ourselves. Balint’s restraint is particularly well suited to a film that allows so much time for watching people, and her place in that compact ensemble is a substantial reason to see it.
Jarmusch’s screenplay gives her room to do this, while the black-and-white framing rewards the same patient attention. The ensemble works because Balint, Lurie and Edson accept the same unshowy pace; a more insistent performance would upset it. The humour asks us to pay attention to the person receiving a line as well as the person delivering it, which suits this cast. The film’s determined cool occasionally leaves us further from Eva and her companions than we would like. We rate the performance highly, with the caveat that being interested in these people does not always mean feeling close to them.
It was her film debut, and the subsequent acting career stayed largely within independent cinema. Bail Jumper (1990), Shadows and Fog (1991) and Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge (1996) followed, before music became her primary focus with albums from 1999 onwards. Violin playing also appears in her acting and stage work, a reminder that the films account for only part of what she does as a performer. Her recurring role as Amia in Louie (2014) brought her back into greater view on television.
The Dead Don’t Die (2019) reunited her with Jarmusch, casting her as Fern. With Eva, the value of that partnership is clear: Jarmusch gives Balint time and trusts that she will not need to fill it with busy acting. Start with Stranger Than Paradise, provided a long pause does not strike you as something a film ought to apologise for.
Biography
Eszter Balint is a Hungarian-American actress. Born on 7 July 1966 in Budapest, she grew up as a member of the avant-garde Squat Theatre company in New York, founded by her father.
She made her film debut as Eva in Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise (1984). Subsequent roles include appearances in American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy (1989), Bail Jumper (1990), for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead, Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog (1991), Trees Lounge (1996) and The Dead Don't Die (2019). She also played Dorothy Bain in an episode of Miami Vice (1985) and had a recurring role as Amia in the television series Louie (2014). Balint is additionally a singer, songwriter and violinist.
