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| Lots of scribbles and a dramatic love-uttering tag-line lies around the sleeping couple on this poster for Jim Jarmusch's Paterson |
Paterson is a bus driver and part-time poet in Paterson, New Jersey. His Iranian-American wife wants him to deliver his works in public, but he is more private about them.
Paterson is written and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Permanent Vacation (1980)), with William Carlos Williams (The Term (2003, short)) and Ron Padgett contributing poems. It is Jarmusch's 13th feature.
Production-wise likely Jarmusch's smallest venture in years, Paterson is also his first good film since Broken Flowers (2005). In Paterson he seems to have created an alter ego following the line of thought; if I hadn't become X (a filmmaker), what else might I have ended up as? (A bus driver/poet apparently.) On the surface one might find it a bit grating that a bus driver in himself is not interesting enough, - that one of everyday life's heroes in this way only seems to 'exist' in Jarmusch's world, if they also produce art just as himself. But this is really more related to Jarmusch's own passion for everything creative than a statement of the real world and its inhabitants.
If you care for poetry, this will ramp up your enjoyment of Paterson, which may otherwise seem small and dull. Adam Driver (House of Gucci (2021)) is good but almost too handsome for the title role of the good and supportive husband, and Golshifteh Farahani (Extraction II (2023, VoD)) is sweet as his cupcake-baking love. Barry Shabaka Henley (A Star Is Born (2018)) is delightful in a supporting role as an honest bar owner.
Paterson is undeniably smaller than the greatest of Jarmusch's heyday (Dead Man (1995) and others), but nevertheless a good one.
Related posts:
Jim Jarmusch: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) - Jarmusch's drowsy vampires, an overrated bore
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
The Limits of Control (2009) - Jarmusch hits career low with idea-bereft embarrassment
Broken Flowers (2005) - Hip search for son and self with Jarmusch and Murray
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) - Pleasant, precious vignette sit-down with some wonderful people
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) - Whitaker serves ancient samurai justice in Jarmusch's cool treat
1995 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Dead Man (1995) - Jarmusch's bold, poetic, rich Americana masterpiece
Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Down by Law (1986) - Jarmusch's jailbreak movie is an independent character gem
Watch a trailer for the movie here
Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 10.7 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.14 times its cost)
[Paterson premiered 16 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 118 minutes. Driver reportedly took a commercial bus driver's license for the part. Shooting took place in the Fall of 2015 for 30 days in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #36 to a 69k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #32 and in 70 theaters (different weeks), grossing 2.1 mil. $ (19.6 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market. The biggest was France with 2.7 mil. $ (25.2 %) and 3rd biggest was Poland with 878k $ (8.2 %). The film lost the Palme d'Or to I, Daniel Blake. Jarmusch returned with Gimme Danger (2016, documentary) and theatrically with The Dead Don't Die (2019). Driver returned in Silence (2016); Farahani in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). Paterson is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Paterson?
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