Review of Paterson (2016) by Spangle — 25 Feb 2017

A slice of life film, Paterson depicts one week (Monday to Sunday) in the life of Paterson (Adam Driver) who lives in Paterson, New Jersey with his girlfriend Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), his dog Marvin, works as a bus driver for the city, and goes to a bar run by Doc (Barry Shabaka Henley). Aside from the weekend, his days are relatively the same. He wakes up, gets breakfast, goes to work, has a conversation with a fellow employee who's life is in shambles, he drives, he goes home, he has dinner, he walks Marvin, he goes to the bar, and then repeat. Yet, much like life, things change every time. To the untrained eye, particularly when it is your own eye, life barely changes from day-to-day. Capturing this beauty and showing how it changes, Paterson is a simple and down-to-earth film that plays like a poem about life and all of its odd idiosyncrasies.

Paterson is, above all, a film about people. That is the biggest change from the day-to-day. Every morning, Paterson wakes up next to Laura. Every morning, their sleeping position is different. Every morning, he eats breakfast. Every morning, he is eating something different, sitting somewhere new, or the dog is somewhere new. Every morning, he goes to work. Every day, he encounters new people, new sights in the city, new conversations, and new incidents. Every day, he goes home. Every day, Laura made something new for dinner, painted something, or purchased something new. Every day, he walks to the bar with Melvin. Every day, he sees somebody new or has a conversation with a stranger. Every day, he goes to the bar. Every day, he sees new people who are new or familiar faces to him and the conversations or situations are different. Though, on the surface, Paterson is a film about seven days that just repeat themselves like Groundhog Day, each day is vibrantly different. It is a film that celebrates the mundane nature of life, but also the subtle changes that make each day feel new. It is not merely a world defined by the fact that the sun rises every morning and sets every evening. The times of the sunrise and sunset even change each day, symbolic of the slight and practically unnoticeable change of each day. We have our routines, especially Melvin, but things will not always go to plan and things will often change from the day-to-day. Jarmusch's picture is tribute to that and a simple and structurally unique poem to that simplicity.

Beautifully acted by Adam Driver, the role is incredibly reserved as he plays the quite and meditative Paterson. Constantly writing in his secret notebook of poems, he writes about simple things like a box of matches. He finds the poetry in life and pens poems based upon that simple beauty. Largely not emotive, he is a man that simply goes through life and likes what he likes and what he likes most is poetry. Yet, his reserved nature even applies to his love. He does not read his poems to his girlfriend, he does identify himself as an aspiring poet to people he meets, and he does not want to share his poems with the world. Writing the poems is enough for him, nothing more and nothing less. He is content with his life in Paterson, driving a bus, living with his girlfriend, and going to the bar. His poetry, as it stands, is all he wants it to be. Every inch of his life, even his girlfriend and her obsession with black-and-white, is what he wants it to be. His aspirations are to wake up as himself the next day and to do what he likes, even if it does not conform with the aspirations and dreams of society.

Yet, what sets Paterson apart is its complete lack of cinematic aspirations. In many ways, Jarmusch's film is like Paterson himself. As Laura pushes him to release his poems, he half-heartedly promises to make copies of the poems. Whenever the audience thinks the film is setting up something via foreshadowing or about to reach a scene of unspeakable tension, the film refuses. With a street tough warning Paterson about how Melvin might get dog jacked, Paterson talking to an aspiring rapper who seems oddly intrigued by the dog, Everett (William Jackson Harper) bringing a gun to the bar, and Paterson's bus breaking down, it feels like the film is constantly foreshadowing or introducing palpable drama. The most common fear is regarding the dog and that fear could be felt in the theater. Left outside the bar as Paterson drinks and pals around, we are constantly left with the belief that Melvin will be stolen. But, inevitably, the screen fades to black and he begins the next day next to Laura in bed. There is even a scene where the door is open and Melvin runs out, but it is shown to be merely part of his routine as he immediately scampers back in. Jarmusch even openly mocks his audience in regards to the bus incident. With it breaking down due to an electical problem, passengers immediately ask if it will blow up. The film seems to play into this by having Paterson tell everybody to stay a good distance away from the bus.