Jim Jarmusch's PATERSON starring Adam Driver as a bus driver/poet

blowing my mind that those are real poems by a real poet tbh

In Anthony Burgess's satiric novel about a poet (Enderby) the main character, was portrayed as a slothful, piggish, and priggish man, whose poetry would be idolized by future generations. Burgess then appended a series of poems he attributed to his 'great' poet. He was both amused and somewhat disappointed that none of the critics reviewing the book addressed the question of whether the poems were good, bad or indifferent and called it 'a failure of nerve'.

Jarmusch wrote the little girl's poem.

I didn't have a prob w/ the poetry, I thought it worked well, read by Driver, as another piece of ambient sound.

the trailers make this look sooooooooooooooo bad, and i hated Only Lovers Left Alive, but w/e Broken Flowers is one of my favorite movies so i'm excited to see this soon.

better hurry!

it just opened today here... along with Almodovar's Julieta, way more psyched on that...

Don't be.

I thought this was a beautiful film. The first poem about the matches was a deft display of Jarmusch's talent; he is able to take what seems like an observational and rote poem about matches and then transform it emotionally when Paterson links the matches to lighting his girlfriend's first cigarette. I love the empathy in his films.

i liked this a lot. didn't really have strong opinions about the actual poetry one way or another--and i dont know if the movie does either since its destruction is treated less as a catastrophe than an example of ultimate transience. poetry recaptures and re-organizes the entropy of life but this too shall pass, etc.

the dog is the principle of chaos, clearly, with the mailbox and paterson always having to put it back in place--every day holding back trends toward disorder. and it's significant that Paterson lets him back in the house even after destroying the notebook.

maybe it's just me, but perhaps there's some deeply buried political subtext going on too? not sure that i could connect those dots myself, though it seems to me that the wife is possibly responding to some kind of trauma as well. if that reading has any merit it's an unusual film since i'd argue that both characters have a healthy response to past trauma. but maybe that reading is over-dramatic, and ordinary life is traumatic enough.

i missed any implied past trauma, what are you referring to?

Seemed like Paterson may have been in the military based on how easily he took down the gunman? But I could be wrong. Everyone seems surprised by his reaction but he seemed quietly stunned.

oh right, there was a picture of him in uniform on their bedside table!

Hey I loved this. Instantly read as an idealized vision of the city to me so I was ok with going along with it and was happy I did. Really lovely little film.

Such a fine line sometimes between desolate mood piece and deadly dull...I liked this, but for me it did walk right up to that line.

One of the best things about it is that it even got made, with some measure of distribution. I saw it in a pretty big multiplex theatre tonight that was at least half full. Discount Tuesday, but still--that's pretty amazing.

Also--don't mean to be pretentious, or to just make up stuff--I can see where this might be one kind of valid response to Trump for the next few years: situate yourself a million miles away, in a world where people aren't yelling at each other all day long.

The surprise towards the end, and what that says about art and life and their relationship to each other (even if you have doubts about the artistic worth of Adam Driver's poems--my friend pointed out they were written by an actual poet of some repute): will have to give that some thought.

A little skeptical about their idyllic--unnaturally idyllic--marriage. Driver and his wife didn't so much as look at each other cross-eyed even once.

Driver's wife reminded me of both Salma Hayek and Tom Cruise's girlfriend in Rain Man. And I want to go look up the bartender, who I strongly associate with one particular film.

Barry Shabaka Henley. It's Collateral I associate him with. He tells the story about meeting (playing with?) Miles Davis.

I associate him with looking oddly at the duck voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in the old Aflac ads.

I laughed extremely loud at the point where the bartender's other half storms into the bar to as where her money is - "chess tournament? Chess tournament? I'll give you a chess tourniquet if I don't get my money back"

having spent plenty of time in Paterson over the last few years i really want to see this.

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, January 18, 2017 4:46 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I want to check this out, too. I did a criminal law internship in Paterson a few years ago, and it was like Night Court set in the True Detective universe. I'm assuming this movie's a little more lighthearted than that.

The unreal marriage started to make sense when I considered the possibility that Paterson wants tranquility -- perhaps passivity -- in life and art.

The wife just seemed like a really lovely person to me.

Have known plenty of couples who celebrate and encourage each other's creativity in much the same way as the couple in Paterson - coupledom is partly about building a united front against the indifference of the wider world, and love definitely deepens when seldom is heard a discouraging word.

So I didn't think it was 'unnaturally idyllic' at all - and besides, Paterson at the very least looks less than enraptured at the thought of having to find funds for a new guitar.

A little cruel, but I did laugh at David Edelstein on the wife: "...Laura is a bit like Eva Gabor in the sitcom Green Acres: dizzily beautiful and completely untethered." In which case I guess Marvin = Arnold the pig. (Just read that Marvin died after the film's completion: http://www.indiewire.com/2016/05/the-2016-palm-dog-posthumously-awarded-to-nellie-the-dog-from-jim-jarmuschs-paterson-289094/)

I don't know--there just seemed something a little unreal about the marriage to me (which didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the film all that much).

I agree, seemed like there was a gulf between them. Opposites attract, I guess.

Loved this film. Want to watch it again. I haven't wanted to re-watch a film in a very long time.

damn still haven't got around to seeing this. perhaps since it is Amazon Studios it will be streaming soon.

I loved this too... esp after the shitty Iggy doc and the cringy vampire movie.

It's not the most naturalistic of films.

I forget who commented that a 'mixed' couple goes to see the inter-species horror oldie Island of Lost Souls...

I loved this too... esp after the shitty Iggy doc and the cringy vampire movie.

― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, February 22, 2017

you're a cringy vampire movie.

It's not the most naturalistic of films.

Au contraire: it's naturalistic, not realistic.

Love JJ, not a fan of AD. watch?

definitely

My favourite film of last year I think. It's not flawless but I like it's flaws too.

One thing I liked that I've been mulling over was the Japanese man's exit line: "A-ha!" I know it echoes something that was said earlier in their conversation, but it's also a cliché of teaching workshops: the "a-ha! moment." Paterson gives the cliché some life.

Loved this and pretty much wanted to rewatch immediately too. Felt similarly about the "cringy vampire movie". People caught up on the Jack White things in that feel like people caught up on the quality of dude's poetry in this. Ultimately seems inconsequential.

This is going to be very high on my film poll ballot.

My fave Driver performance to date. Not ruling it out as my fave Jarmusch film, either.

Same