Paterson (2016) - Bus driver poetry drama a small gem

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+ Best New Jersey Movie of the Year

 

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: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

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?

Collateral (2004) - Great, urban, digital age thriller from Mann in his right element

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+ Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Thriller of the Year

Gritty Spanish poster for Michael Mann's Collateral

QUICK REVIEW:

A Los Angeles cab driver named Max with unrealized dreams of starting a limo company gets an unusual customer: Vincent is a contract killer, who's got 5 stops to make this night, and he has chosen Max to drive him.

Collateral is a downplayed and very urban suspense picture, which contains cinematography so nice, - of the nightly cityscape among other things, - that the adrenaline often must yield to admiration. Cinematographers: Dion Beebe (Chicago (2002)) and Paul Cameron (Deja Vu (2006)), championed early HD digital shooting on Collateral, and deserved Oscar nods for their effort, (but were snubbed.)
Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder (2008)) is good as the sociopath Vincent, and Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained (2012)), who was Oscar-nominated for his performance, is also good as the working man in denial, Max. Jada Pinkett Smith (The Matrix Reloaded (2003)), Mark Ruffalo (The Normal Heart (2014), TV movie), Javier Bardem (Biutiful (2010)) and Jason Statham (The Transporter (2002)) in a short cameo complete the exciting ensemble.
Collateral has an eerie reverberation of the cold and indifference of the big city towards its own fates, which sticks. - In short, it's a really good, dramatic thriller.
Directed by Michael Mann (Heat (1995)), whose coming action drama Blackhat (2015) is looking very promising, and you can check out its trailer here.

Related posts:

Michael Mann: 2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever

Watch the cool trailer here

Cost: 65 mil. $
Box office: 217.7 mil. $
= Big hit
[Collateral entered the US theaters first and stayed in theaters for 14 weeks, making 101 mil. $ in the US, where it was also Oscar-nominated for Best Editing. It was well-received by critics and nominated for a slew of other awards as well, including 6 BAFTA's, of which it won one for Best Cinematography.]

What do you think of Collateral?
What are your favorite 3 Michael Mann films?

Virginia/What's Wrong With Virginia (2010) or, A Woman's Struggle

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1 Film Excess win:

Best Lead Actress: Jennifer Connelly

5 Film Excess nominations:

Best Film (lost to The King's Speech) 
Best Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (lost to Christopher Nolan for Inception)
Best Lead Actress: Jennifer Connelly (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Barry Shabaka Henley (lost to John C. Reilly for The Extra Man) 
Best Cinematography: Eric Alan Edwards (lost to Wally Phister for Inception) 

+ Most Under-appreciated Movie of the Year

Jennifer Connelly looks troubled and is aslant on this poster for Dustin Lance Black's Virginia

Virginia is a fickle-minded mother with a past of mental illness, who lives in an American town that has her confused with its excessive focus on God through different Christian sects. The local Mormon sheriff Tipton, who is running for office, has carried on a two decades long extra-marital affair with Virginia. Her teenage son is now out to prove that Tipton is not his father, in order that he can date Tipton's daughter. - Life is not easy for Virginia.

 
Virginia is written and directed by Californian master filmmaker Dustin Lance Black (The Journey of Jared Price (2000)), whose 2nd film as a director it is. It is a movie that is hard to sum up, but it is a rich and emotionally rewarding experience. It is about a woman who struggles for respectability; struggles to do the right thing; struggles to keep it together; but struggles most of all for her son. It is about everyone's pursuit of happiness, reassurance, God, redemption and love. And the anxieties and stresses that all of these concepts also congest in the human mind.
Jennifer Connolly (Requiem for a Dream (2000)), one of the finest actresses we have today, is magnificent as Virginia. She helped pick items for Virginia's house and wardrobe for the film, and throughout the film it is a luxurious joy to see her truly own that character. Connolly is supported by great actors in all the other parts: The young Harrison Gilbert (Need for Speed (2014)) impresses as Virginia's direct, sincere son. Ed Harris (Appaloosa (2008)) shines in another difficult part as sheriff Tipton, a desperate and dangerous man who has built himself a life that's only held together by corroding lies. Barry Shabaka Henley (Collateral (2004)) has a small, but pivotal part as Virginia's old male nurse. Their scenes are nothing short of heartbreaking.
Emma Roberts (Valentine's Day (2010)) and Amy Madigan (Winter Passing (2005)) are good as the daughter and wife of Tipton. And Toby Jones (Kaleidoscope (2016)) and Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell (2019)) are a gift as a tragic - and sometimes funny - couple.
Virginia is so rich with texture and American life: The sheriff Tipton character inevitably made me think of last year's Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was about as trustworthy as sheriff Tipton and probably had a Virginia or two in his chained up Mormon closet somewhere as well.
The movie plays out mostly in a sleepy Summer town with a theme park. Everything comes to life around a governor's visit to the local sheriff's campaign. There is an unreal, stagnant atmosphere in that little society. The characters are never judged. The roller-coasters in the town's background seem to reflect on their co-mingling lives in the drowsy town.
Quite often in Virginia, the characters speak lines that are unintentionally poignant and/or funny, (but intentionally written so, I am sure.) The underlying intelligence is keen, and the film stays living and breathing through it, but many times I was too emotionally invested in the characters to laugh at them, even if they did say some ridiculous things. This is a testament to great, truthful acting and seriousness in direction.
Virginia has a sensitive, delicate score by Nick Urata (I Love You Philip Morris (2009)), and great, unpretentious cinematography by Eric Alan Edwards (Knocked Up (2007)).
The movie is a first class heartbreaker.

Related posts:

 

Dustin Lance Black: J. Edgar (2011) - Eastwood, Black and DiCaprio's great, intense biopic (writer)
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess



Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 12k $
= Box office disaster (estimated return of 0.003 times the cost)

[Virginia premiered 15 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place from September - November 2009 in Michigan and New Jersey. The film opened #43 to a 742$ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, its peak there and the film's only theatrical market. If made on a very lowly estimated 4 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a rarely bleak disaster with a return of just 0.003 times the cost. The release was obstructed by a bad first premiere in Toronto and following re-editing and re-titling by Black, who also told a festival reporter that the film, which is allegedly autobiographical, "was pretty bad", effectively taking the life out of it himself. Black as a director has only returned with 2 shorts and 2 TV credits since. Connelly returned in The Dilemma (2011); Harris in Salvation Boulevard (2011). Virginia is rotten at 11 % with a 4.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 
What do you think of Virginia?