Review of Paterson (2016) by Chris S — 21 Apr 2017
A wondrous film about discovering the beauties in life's repetition. Jarmusch avoids even the most uncommon of drama film tropes in this one. There's no loud confrontations when something goes wrong, no struggles of an undiscovered artist who wants to get by, no financial troubles leading to strife in an otherwise perfect household.
There's exactly one plot point that you can see coming before it happens, and even it is so well-executed that the sheer emotion of the scene completely dominates the predictability. It's just a small film about life that looks like life and feels like life.
Adam Driver is absolutely perfect here, again with no huge outbursts not just of anger, but of any emotion really. His performance relies almost solely on physical tics: the way he raises an eyebrow while eavesdropping on a conversation on the bus, for example.
Executing stoicism in film is a hard thing to do, but Jarmusch and Driver have crafted a painfully likeable young man here. Not much happens in Paterson (the town and the film itself), but Jarmusch has made such nothingness incredibly engaging.
This review of Paterson (2016) was written by Chris S on 21 Apr 2017.
Paterson has generally received very positive reviews.
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