Paterson (film)

Plot

The film shows one week, beginning with Monday, in the life of Paterson (Adam Driver), a bus driver from the city of Paterson, New Jersey. Every day follows much the same pattern: Paterson gets up early and goes to drive his bus, where he listens to the passengers talking and, during pauses, writes poetry in a notebook he is carrying with him. When he comes home after work he takes Marvin, his wife's dog, out for a walk and makes a stop at his bar for a beer, where he observes the other patrons and the owner, Doc (Barry Shabaka Henley), interacting.

His wife Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) loves his poems and has urged him for a long time to publish them or at least make copies. He finally gives in and promises to go to the copy shop on the weekend. But when the weekend arrives and Paterson and Laura come home from an evening out, they find that Marvin has shredded his notebook, destroying all of his poetry.

The next day, a dejected Paterson goes out for a walk and sits down at his favorite site, the Great Falls of the Passaic River. There, a mysterious Japanese man (Masatoshi Nagase) takes a seat beside him and begins a conversation about poetry after Paterson notices that the man is reading a book by his favorite poet, William Carlos Williams, who himself wrote a book-length poem entitled Paterson. The man seems to know that Paterson himself is a poet even though he denies it and hands him a gift before leaving, an empty notebook.

The film ends with Paterson writing a new poem in his new notebook.

Cast

Production

In April 2014, it was announced Jim Jarmusch would write and direct the film, about a poet living in Paterson, New Jersey. In January 2016, it was revealed that Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani had been cast in the film, with Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur serving as executive producers under their K5 Film banner, while Joshua Astrachan and Carter Logan will produce under their Animal Kingdom and Inkjet banners respectively.

The film was shot over 30 days in the fall of 2015, in Paterson, New Jersey and various locations throughout New York.

The poet Ron Padgett provided the poems attributed to the character Paterson, while Jarmusch wrote the poem "Water Falls" attributed to a young girl in the film. The film features four of Padgett's existing poems and three new poems written for the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere on May 16, 2016, at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or. Amazon Studios will distribute the film in the United States. It was later announced Bleecker Street is partnering with Amazon on releasing the film, on December 28, 2016. It will be released in Germany on November 17, 2016. It was released in France on December 21, 2016. It opened for a limited run in the eponymous city on January 27, 2017.

Critical reception

Paterson received positive reviews from critics. It holds a 96% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 189 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Paterson adds another refreshingly unvarnished entry to Jim Jarmusch's filmography -- and another outstanding performance to Adam Driver's career credits." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 90 out of 100, based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Todd McCarthy of the The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, writing: "A mild-mannered, almost startlingly undramatic work that offers discreet pleasures to longtime fans of the New York indie-scene veteran, who can always be counted on to go his own way." Eric Kohn of Indiewire.com also gave the film a positive review writing : "But "Paterson" has too much clarity of mind to fall into a similar category. The story builds to an accidental circumstance that, on the surface, might not seem like a big deal — but in the context of Paterson’s tiny universe, resonates with tragic connotations. The brilliantly cryptic finale explores what it means to work back from personal setbacks to find a new source of inspiration. It’s an apt statement from Jarmusch, a filmmaker who continues to surprise and innovate while remaining true to his singular voice, and who here seems to have delivered its purest manifestation."