Paterson Review | VIFF 2016

<p>It can be pretty lonely if you&&num;8217&semi;re the creative type&period; I&&num;8217&semi;d expect Jim Jarmusch would be among those people that live in a form of solitude as a famous writer&sol;director&sol;intellectual&period; <em>Paterson <&sol;em>is a deep exploration into the vast silence of loneliness and the poetry in the world around you&period; With a star like Adam Driver on the screen&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s interesting to see the kind of performance that Jarmusch is able to get out of him&period; Film fans would probably say that Jarmusch has a distinct style&period; I&&num;8217&semi;d say he shows that here&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s almost like style without much style at all&period; Stripped down and elegant&comma; <em>Paterson <&sol;em>has a deceptively complex story to tell in a very simple package&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Adam Driver stars as Paterson&period; Working as a bus driver in the city of Paterson&comma; New Jersey&comma; he writes during his breaks and gets home to his slightly eccentric wife&comma; Laura &lpar;Golshifteh Farahani&rpar; and their English Bulldog&comma; Marvin &lpar;the late Nellie&rpar;&period; Throughout the film&comma; we&&num;8217&semi;re treated to seven days of Paterson&&num;8217&semi;s routine and the slight changes throughout them&period; Paterson&&num;8217&semi;s visits to the bar at night are among the highlights of these moments&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re with Paterson as he listens on to conversations on the bus&comma; has dinners with his wife and dog&comma; and the arguments and conversations between the bar patrons and owner&period; It would be dismissive to say that nothing happens in the film&period; There are no traumatic life changing events&comma; but there are changes of the psyche&period; <em>Paterson <&sol;em>is about a journey of acceptance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114794" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114794" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114794 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;29235416&sol;Paterson&lowbar;3-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Paterson&comma; Amazon Studios&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114794" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Paterson<&sol;em>&comma; Amazon Studios&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Like any Jarmusch film&comma; the mood is key in creating something that plays out like this film does&period; Methodically paced &lpar;not boring&comma; but slow&rpar;&comma; Jarmusch allows us to be on the journey with the character and reckon some form of understanding of his surroundings&period; Every piece of music&comma; every shot&comma; every line of dialogue feels like a piece of a puzzle that can be deciphered to reveal the outlying issues in the title character&&num;8217&semi;s life&comma; but Jarmusch allows you to feel that as well&period; Without the specific actors and moments provided&comma; <em>Paterson <&sol;em>would lack the richness that brings it to a third dimension&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s not hyperbole when I tell you that every single person in this cast is fabulous&period; I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t sure about Adam Driver at first&period; His character feels stilted at first&comma; but that plays itself out throughout the film&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m officially a fan of Golshifteh Farahani despite her character being treated as someone that is dumber and lacks the talent that Paterson has&period; I have no problem with this kind of arc&comma; but the film treats her character as a joke almost all the way throughout and leaves their relationship with a condescending tone&period; Thankfully&comma; this is ratified near the end&comma; but it still left a bad taste in my mouth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114795" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114795" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114795 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;29235447&sol;Paterson&lowbar;4-1024x684&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Paterson&comma; Amazon Studios&rpar;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"668" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114795" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Paterson<&sol;em>&comma; Amazon Studios&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Ultimately&comma; <em>Paterson <&sol;em>works because it&&num;8217&semi;s aware of what it&&num;8217&semi;s doing&period; We have to make the choice to continue doing what we love with the possibility of it never coming to anything&comma; or stop doing that thing that makes us feel whole and complete entirely&period; Jarmusch and Driver understand this character so well&period; Not since <em>Inside Llewyn Davis <&sol;em>has a film about the struggle of artistry felt so real and sincere&period; If you feel like you have a story to tell&comma; let it out&period; Even if the world feels like it&&num;8217&semi;s against you&period; Even if you feel you don&&num;8217&semi;t have talent&period; Some things need to be seen and heard&period; <em>Paterson <&sol;em>is one of them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;