PATERSON 4th August 2017

Paterson

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Paterson is a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey--they share the name. Every day, Paterson adheres to a simple routine: he drives his daily route, observing the city as it drifts across his windshield and overhearing fragments of conversation swirling around him; he writes poetry into a notebook; he walks his dog; he stops in a bar and drinks exactly one beer; he goes home to his wife, Laura. By contrast, Laura's world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily. Paterson loves Laura and she loves him. He supports her newfound ambitions; she champions his gift for poetry. The film quietly observes the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details.

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus: Paterson adds another refreshingly unvarnished entry to Jim Jarmusch's filmography -- and another outstanding performance to Adam Driver's career credits.

David Stratton SMH Dec 2016: Who would have thought that a film about a week in the life of a bus driver and part-time poet named Paterson, who lives in Paterson, New Jersey, would be one of movie highlights of the year? In his new film, independent American director Jim Jarmusch returns to the kind of minimalist work with which he made his name 30 years ago — films such as Stranger than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986) and Mystery Train (1989). Paterson is a film in which conventional narrative is shunted aside in favour of detailed character observation; nothing “happens”, in a traditional sense, yet everything happens.

115minutes

comedy, drama

written and directed by Jim Jarmusch