PATERSON – Review

Adam Driver stars as a driver named Paterson from Paterson in PATERSON. Got that? He drives a bus in New Jersey’s third most populous city where he lives in a small house with wife Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) and bulldog Marvin. Each day, Paterson gets up, eats breakfast, walks Marvin, then goes to work.  Fascinated by his passengers, he listens in on their conversations. After work he stops by the same tavern for just one beer, then goes home to his wife. Paterson repeats that routine again the next day. A quiet man, Paterson writes poetry in a notebook in his spare time. His words are spelled out across the screen and we often hear him reciting them or working them out as he goes.

On the surface, not a lot happens in PATERSON. His bus breaks down, but it’s hardly a crisis. Someone fires a gun in his favorite bar, but even that situation calms down quickly.  It would be easy to label PATERSON as almost completely lacking in pace, drama, emotion, conflict, or plot. I’m often critical of filmmakers who paper over a lack of storytelling with distracting camerawork, loud music, and precious directorial tricks, but PATERSON is the latest from writer-director Jim Jarmusch, who, while having little story to tell, does none of those things. Jarmusch’s first movie, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, was about a pair of New York sad sacks who spend their days at the horse track, then vacation in Florida, where they spend their days at the dog track. It was one of my favorite films of the ‘80s, told completely in long master shots and fades to black, and introduced the Jarmusch style which he continues with PATERSON. Paterson’s poems, charming works of honesty, expose Paterson’s kind artist’s soul. Driver is so likeable in this role and though he physically resembles the schlemiel played by John Lurie in the early Jarmush films, this is a much more intelligent character. Paterson’s wife’s a flake with her desire to paint patterns on every square inch of their home and become a country music star though she can’t play a guitar, but he clearly adores Laura. Paterson does what he can to indulge her and the film is a nice look at a happy marriage. While Driver is given no big emotional moments, it takes real skill to sell a character so straightforwardly wholesome. Throughout his career, the quirky Jarmusch has made movies that are an acquired taste. With deliberate pacing, poker-faced, deadpan humor, and a stubborn lack of interest in cutting away from that master shot, his films have made a lifelong fan out of me and PATERSON is one of his best.

4 1/2 of 5 Stars