Movie Review: “Paterson”
Director/Writer: Jim Jarmusch
★★★★
Review by Keith Shapiro
Paterson, NJ is not the first place most people look to for inspiration but its track record is now impeccable. In the six part epic poem Paterson by poet (and doctor) William Carlos Williams the New Jersey city is envisioned as living person and it is declared there are “no ideas but in things”. In Jim Jarmusch’s new film “Paterson”, the aptly named character Paterson (Adam Driver) is a poetry writing bus driver that enables the river of life to flow unencumbered daily through the gritty city streets. Every day he dutifully does his job and uses every spare moment to write moving, modernist poetry in his “secret notebook”, garnering much inspiration from the conversations he overhears and the truly stunning Great Falls that form the heart of the working class town. Each evening he comes home to his loving wife Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) and adorable but fiercely protective English bulldog Marvin and quietly gathers his “ideas” from the “things” around him. Following his wife’s eclectic dinners that he outwardly appreciates but leave him internally unsatisfied, he walks Marvin nightly to the local bar, where he nurses a beer and further observes the large and small human dramas around him. Like most of Jarmusch’s work this is a quiet film where a description of the plot is missing the point. Just let the river flow and bask in the comedy, pathos and richness of everyday life that “Paterson” captures so exquisitely.
Multiple sets of identical twins and couples who look and act alike surround Paterson, but his wife Laura is seemingly his opposite. They seem to have great love for one another, but she is a creature of the internet age. Constantly trying new things and testing ideas, Laura is an artist, a chef, a guitar player, a cupcake mogul — every day is a new and short term adventure. Paterson is proudly analog to a fault, with no smart phone or computer he writes all his poems in an irreplaceable notebook that his supportive and devoted wife is constantly begging him to copy. We are left to decide who Paterson’s twin may be. It’s certainly not their dog Marvin who functions more as a nemesis, albeit it a lovable one!
Adam Driver is his usual great and unpredictable self, his slow burn as Paterson always leaves you wanting more. Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani brings a fresh energy to her role as the dreamer Laura and the nightly trips to the bar provide us with a rich parade of characters that all speak fluent Jarmusch-eese. Although the city of Paterson clearly has its share of modern urban problems, Fredrick Elmes cinematography makes the natural setting and the old factories inspiring and beautiful. The way Paterson’s poems, “words written on water”, appear on the screen as he’s creating them is effective and moving. Jarmusch and his editor Affonso Goncalves make creative use of dissolves and multiple exposures to convey the poetry of the everyday images.
Only a master like Jarmusch could effortlessly pack so many ideas and themes into a film with such a light touch and arch humor. In the wrong hands references to artist Jean Dubuffet and his Art Brut movement that found “the simple life of the everyday human being contained more art and poetry than did academic art, or great painting”, or a surprisingly poignant analysis of the old standard “Swinging on a Star” could be deathly cinema. But Jarmusch never has a whiff of pretension; he reminds us that the so-called “common man” can be just as artistic and creative as the fancy grad school artiste. Too often our movies are either dumbed down or overly arty while films like “Paterson” get overlooked. Like his protagonist, Jim Jarmusch makes art that’s a quiet respite from the loud and vulgar world. It’s a joy to see it in the theater where one can be fully attentive and not hypnotized on the couch, but make sure you watch Paterson any way you can. So many American stories feature a character that’s striving to be what he or she is not. “Paterson” says it’s ok to be who you are but it’s helpful for all of us to make some art along the way.
