Paterson (played by Driver) 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 (played by Farahani). By contrast, Laura’s world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily, each a different and inspired project. Paterson loves Laura and she loves him. He supports her newfound ambitions; she champions his secret gift for poetry. The history and energy of the City of Paterson is a felt presence in the film and its simple structure unfolds over the course of a single week. The quiet triumphs and defeats of daily life are observed, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details. It's been picked up by Amazon. Not sure how they'll release it, probably similar way to Chi-raq.
That kind of decision always surprises. It is hard to imagine a Jim Jarmusch film getting a lot of Academy Award nominations, so it seems like it would hurt the movie by being crowded out by whatever the "big names" will be this year. Richard Linklater films have been coming out in the summer and early fall and managed to find an audience because people want an alternative to the regular summer films. Swiss Army man had a decent word-of-mouth this summer but would have probably not gotten a chance in the winter.
Adam Driver Is Your Friendly Neighborhood Bus Driver-Slash-Poet in First Trailer for 'Paterson' (Exclusive)
This interests me a lot. Paterson seems to be sort of under-recognized even in it's own state. Whereas Trenton and Newark get recognized as thriving arts communities, even if the cities themselves are sort of rough-and-tumble, Paterson never seems to get any sort of attention, good or bad. It's just kind of a forgotten town
Saw this at AFI yesterday. Really enjoyed it. A meditative exercise in the mundanities of life that manages to bloom with humor and intrigue. Driver gives a quiet performance, so I'm not sure if it'll garner Oscar-type attention, but it was nonetheless an excellent performance.
Really good film, love Adam Driver and how he portrayed a guy just content with his lot in life. It was refreshing. But what was up with the weird Japanese fella? At the very end the writing suddenly went from super naturalistic to incredibly contrived. That's my only gripe though.
It wasn't until I stepped out of the theater onto the street after seeing the movie that I remembered I was 500 miles away from home. This really wrapped me up in it.
At the bar afterwards: "We just got out of a movie." "What movie?" "Paterson." "Was it about Paterson, New Jersey?" "Yeah, actually." "Oh, cool. Bet it didn't mention Fetty Wap though." "Actually..."
Have no idea how I missed that Suzy and Sam from Moonrise Kingdom played the anarchist teens on the bus