Paterson - directed by Jim Jarmusch
This is a movie that is likely to divide viewers.
I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it until a couple of hours after leaving the cinema.
I needed time not only to mull over how I felt about it but to figure out what writer-director Jim Jarmusch was going for.
"Paterson" is a two hour movie about a man named Paterson who lives in the New Jersey town of Paterson.
It is what is often referred to as 'slice of life' and in this case it is pretty literally what we have - an ordinary guy in an ordinary town.
And to all intents and purposes nothing much at all happens!
But as it turns out that is indeed the point.
Adam Driver plays Paterson.
Whether this is his first or last name we do not know - people just call him Paterson.
The fact that his name is the same as the New Jersey town in which he drives a bus for a living is only alluded to once, briefly.
He lives with a woman named Laura who he may or may not be married to but either way he clearly adores.
Every morning Paterson wakes up early and kisses Laura. She awakes and tells him what she dreamed.
He eats the same cereal then walks to the bus depot, lunch pail in hand to drive his bus.
Paterson sits in the bus writing poetry until he is interrupted by co-worker Donny.
Donny asks how Paterson is and in response to the same question back tells of the latest financial and familial hardships to beset him.
Paterson listens to the conversations of his passengers, eats his lunch then returns home in the evening where he will eat dinner and talk with Laura before walking their dog Marvin and drinking a single beer at his local bar.
And so it goes every day from Monday to Monday.
There is the suggestion of conflict every now and then but very few (if any) of these threats eventuate.
For instance one night a carload of (possibly) gangbangers pull up next to Paterson as he walks his dog Marvin and suggest that should the dog be dog-napped it would fetch a good price.
So far I imagine that this sounds incredibly boring but this is the point.
Paterson's life can be seen as boring in movie terms but it is basically a normal everyday life.
With the introduction of poetry however the mundane becomes something more - at least to Paterson.
He writes a poem about the Ohio Blue Tip matches that he and Laura use.
She asks if he wrote about the shape of the lettering (he did).
One of Laura's dreams is about having twins of which Paterson encounters several sets throughout the film.
There is the suggestion that somehow the duo are linked - by love maybe, telepathy or maybe just pure coincidence.
So the film about finding interest in the mundane itself becomes an exercise in finding connections, conflicts or interest of any sort.
A mysteriously toppling letterbox puzzles Paterson and there is a lovesick man named Everett who desperately wants his lost love Marie back.
The bartender Doc (the great Barry Shabaka Henley) is a chess player which results in a wonderfully funny pun when his wife finds out he took some money she'd been saving.
There are moments of humour - an exchange between two bus passengers telling tales of women that want them and their inability to act due to tiredness that is oddly sweet albeit highly sexist!
While this might sound like an infuriatingly dull proposition I found it a really compelling little slice of ordinary life.
There are aspects of Paterson's life that in any other movie might be the start of a major plot altering conflict but not so here.
Laura is a lovely woman and in many ways she is the polar opposite of Paterson.
She is flighty and has dreams of starting her own cupcake business and of becoming a country singer.
She paints the house, the shower curtains.... anything in sight!
And she loves black and white and circles so everything from her clothes to the coffee mugs and the cupcakes have black and white designs featuring circles.
Paterson either merely tolerates her flights of fancy and her artistic flourishes or actively encourages them - it is hard to say which.
Theirs is a relationship that has settled into a routine that neither one of them ever shows any dissatisfaction with.
In fact quite the opposite.
They clearly adore each other.
There is no apparent fiery passion to their relationship- the sweet little kisses that Paterson plants on Laura's arm, back, shoulder or cheek every morning is as physical as they get.
But again- that is the point.
They care for each other because they appreciate something in each other that only they are aware of.
And so for me is it with this film.
It has stayed with me and I have been thinking about it a lot.
As I do more and more is revealed much like Patersons poems scrawled on the screen as he adds new lines.
(And if you would like to read the poems they can be found here)
RATING: 78 / 100
CONCLUSION: An oddly fascinating movie with a wonderful performance from Adam Driver. Haunting and wonderfully shot this will likely either leave you bored senseless or unable to stop to thinking about it.
Starring: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Rizwan Manji, Barry Shabaka Henley, Trevor Parham, Troy T. Parham, Brian McCarthy, Frank Harts, Chasten Harmon, William Jackson Harper, Luis Da Silva Jr, Masatoshi Nagase
Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch
Music Score by: Jim Jarmusch, Carter Logan & Squrl
Cinematography: Frederick Elmes
Edited by: Affonso Goncalves
Running Time: 118 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Some profanity
Running Time: 118 minutes
Language: English
Rated: M - Some profanity
I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it until a couple of hours after leaving the cinema.
I needed time not only to mull over how I felt about it but to figure out what writer-director Jim Jarmusch was going for.
"Paterson" is a two hour movie about a man named Paterson who lives in the New Jersey town of Paterson.
It is what is often referred to as 'slice of life' and in this case it is pretty literally what we have - an ordinary guy in an ordinary town.
And to all intents and purposes nothing much at all happens!
But as it turns out that is indeed the point.
 |
| Adam Driver |
Whether this is his first or last name we do not know - people just call him Paterson.
The fact that his name is the same as the New Jersey town in which he drives a bus for a living is only alluded to once, briefly.
He lives with a woman named Laura who he may or may not be married to but either way he clearly adores.
Every morning Paterson wakes up early and kisses Laura. She awakes and tells him what she dreamed.
He eats the same cereal then walks to the bus depot, lunch pail in hand to drive his bus.
Paterson sits in the bus writing poetry until he is interrupted by co-worker Donny.
Donny asks how Paterson is and in response to the same question back tells of the latest financial and familial hardships to beset him.
Paterson listens to the conversations of his passengers, eats his lunch then returns home in the evening where he will eat dinner and talk with Laura before walking their dog Marvin and drinking a single beer at his local bar.
And so it goes every day from Monday to Monday.
There is the suggestion of conflict every now and then but very few (if any) of these threats eventuate.
For instance one night a carload of (possibly) gangbangers pull up next to Paterson as he walks his dog Marvin and suggest that should the dog be dog-napped it would fetch a good price.
 |
| Donny, Doc, Everett & Marie and Marvin the dog |
Paterson's life can be seen as boring in movie terms but it is basically a normal everyday life.
With the introduction of poetry however the mundane becomes something more - at least to Paterson.
He writes a poem about the Ohio Blue Tip matches that he and Laura use.
She asks if he wrote about the shape of the lettering (he did).
One of Laura's dreams is about having twins of which Paterson encounters several sets throughout the film.
There is the suggestion that somehow the duo are linked - by love maybe, telepathy or maybe just pure coincidence.
So the film about finding interest in the mundane itself becomes an exercise in finding connections, conflicts or interest of any sort.
A mysteriously toppling letterbox puzzles Paterson and there is a lovesick man named Everett who desperately wants his lost love Marie back.
The bartender Doc (the great Barry Shabaka Henley) is a chess player which results in a wonderfully funny pun when his wife finds out he took some money she'd been saving.
There are moments of humour - an exchange between two bus passengers telling tales of women that want them and their inability to act due to tiredness that is oddly sweet albeit highly sexist!
While this might sound like an infuriatingly dull proposition I found it a really compelling little slice of ordinary life.
There are aspects of Paterson's life that in any other movie might be the start of a major plot altering conflict but not so here.
Laura is a lovely woman and in many ways she is the polar opposite of Paterson.
She is flighty and has dreams of starting her own cupcake business and of becoming a country singer.
She paints the house, the shower curtains.... anything in sight!
And she loves black and white and circles so everything from her clothes to the coffee mugs and the cupcakes have black and white designs featuring circles.
Paterson either merely tolerates her flights of fancy and her artistic flourishes or actively encourages them - it is hard to say which.
 |
| Golshifteh Farahani as Laura |
In fact quite the opposite.
They clearly adore each other.
There is no apparent fiery passion to their relationship- the sweet little kisses that Paterson plants on Laura's arm, back, shoulder or cheek every morning is as physical as they get.
But again- that is the point.
They care for each other because they appreciate something in each other that only they are aware of.
And so for me is it with this film.
It has stayed with me and I have been thinking about it a lot.
As I do more and more is revealed much like Patersons poems scrawled on the screen as he adds new lines.
(And if you would like to read the poems they can be found here)
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