The movie
Show notes
Jim Jarmusch's PATERSON is not about legalised corruption at the hands of this disgraceful Tory government but is in fact a tone poem about a bus driver-poet by that name who lives in the city of Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson gets up at about the same time every day, eats his breakfast and walks to the bus depot where he works. He drives his shift, listens to the conversations happening around him then at lunch writes poetry in his notebook inspired by the works of his idol William Carlos Williams while sitting on a bench at his fortress of solitude, the Great Falls of the Passaic River. His evenings consist of eating some dubious dish concocted by his wife Laura whilst experiencing her latest artistic endeavour, being taken for a walk by Marvin, their pet bulldog and having a beer at Shades Bar where he chats to owner Doc who loses to himself at chess. That's it, the whole movie. Essentially what I've written above is as big a deal as Sidey's horrible NO TIME TO DIE spoiler was and yet somehow this managed to be the most divisive movie we've reviewed on the podcast so far. In retrospect there are more than a few clues that it might be. First is the general idea of the thing which might just set off some folks’ pretentious bullshit alarm too loudly to ignore. Then there is the admittedly slightly puzzling relationship between Paterson and Laura, who fulfils his role of muse but also requires plenty of indulgence or assistance, depending on how you see it (personally I didn't think a great deal about their relationship; it didn't necessarily feel authentic but was in keeping with the general resonance of the movie). There's the 'nothing happens and it's all a bit boring' view, the first part being essentially true at least by common movie going standards and the second part being a valid subjective personal experience. I found there was always something interesting to look at or listen to: Adam Driver has an incredible face which is always compelling to look at. He'
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