Page 4 of 5 FirstFirst ... 2345 LastLast
Results 46 to 60 of 73

Thread: Nyff 2016

  1. #46
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    You covered Jim Jarmusch's Paterson for NYFF and I agree with your review. Not a whole lot happens and it's a little difficult to describe, even tho I think it's pretty much perfect.

    Adam Driver is a city bus driver for NJ Transit: the 23 Paterson bus. His name is Paterson, and he lives in Paterson. This film is a crash-course in Paterson history, and it's fascinating to me. Not a single frame is out of place here- Frederick Elmes is a Master cinematographer who's worked with the best. No one can complain about the compositions in this. There is deadpan humour, as you mentioned Chris, and I loved it. Especially the scene where the bartender tells Everett he should be an actor....Priceless.
    Jarmusch can take the most mundane thing and give it oomph. He makes cupcakes, dogs, plain locales, a plain house and plain bus depot look Interesting, despite being run-of-the-mill.
    Love is the story here. Paterson's love for his woman Laura and his love for poetry.
    It seems a little strange that a city transit bus driver would write personal and pretty good poetry, but why not? Stranger things have happened...
    I found the character of Paterson to be very compelling. Adam Driver is a very engaging actor, and here he shines. He's totally believable, and he has a great career ahead of him.
    I loved all of the little details about Paterson, New Jersey: Lou Costello, William Carlos Williams, streets, the waterfalls, even Marvin the dog had charm, even if I hated him by the end. LOL Speaking of the end, if I have one complaint about this flawless movie, it was the ending. It's fine as it is, I know why Jarmusch did it that way, just for me I was left a little wanting..

    All in all, stellar film by an old hand at it.
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  2. #47
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    I agree with your review (you wrote a review!) and love this film. It's a pity that because it's so low key, people seem to have largely dismissed it. Several people I know at NY press screenings have spoken disparagingly of it, and it was not much in the conversation at the Oscars. Jarmusch remains one of our distinctive auteurs of the past fifty years.

    I recently got to see another film of the NYFF that I previously hadn't - Assayas' Personal Shopper. My review of that is in the NYFF Festival Coverage too, and I liked that much more than talk about it had led me to expect - though a colleague here had spoken with gentle favor of it; but the 'critics' at the publicist's screening were disparaging and dismissive afterwards - due mostly to the spiritualism/medium content. There is so much more there than that, and that is delicately and skillfully done.

    What 'everybody' in the NY crowd seems to like now is I Am Not Your Negro (featured at the FSLC and one of Lincoln Center's biggest box office successes, I was told) - you might want to check that one out, it's very well done if a tiny bit overrated maybe - and O.J.: Made in America justifiably trumped it in the Oscars I think.

  3. #48
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    I know..I wrote something! It's a miracle! hahaha

    Paterson was outstanding, but I could see some people being annoyed with it. I loved it, but I am biased toward Jarmusch.
    That dog who played "Marvin" is actually called Nellie, and she died not long ago, and Cannes gave her the "Palm Dog"!
    Marvin gets most of the laughs in this movie.
    We get a nice glimpse into life in New Jersey, or at least the scenery, which is quite nice. I didn't know that New Jersey had nice scenery...everything I've been led to believe about New Jersey is bleak! LOL

    As for Paterson the film, this will be a Criterion DVD release for sure. The only scene that made no sense to me was the one where the bartender's wife comes in and tells him to put the money back- completely random, and made me think the bartender wasn't who he portrays. Or maybe he is...he seems like a put-on artist...
    Also, the scene with the Japanese man toward the end..."A HA!"...what was that about? Pretty coincidental that he knows William Carlos Williams AND he sits down next to Paterson right there on the bench...
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  4. #49
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    You're a good writer. All you need is to want to and you could review movies as well as anybody. Jarmusch exercises complete control in his movies. Anthony Lane said Marvin was a mistake name: it should have been Paterson. So, you can't be surprised that a Japanese expert on William Carlos Williams sits next to Paterson in the park. A recent film of his that few, or none but me, liked was called The Limits of Control. For him, there aren't any. But of course this varies. The public may like it better when the control isn't too evident, like in Only Lovers Left Alive. Those vampires of course had little freedom, but the moves seemed pleasantly wayward.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 03-06-2017 at 04:40 PM.

  5. #50
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    I guess the Japanese expert could happen, it's a nice spot, in front of the falls...but what about the blank notebook? Was the guy psychic? He said "A Ha!"...and I agree the dog should've been named Paterson.
    My favorite moment was when the young girl said "bus driver who likes Emily Dickenson.." Only in the movies...
    Last edited by Johann; 03-06-2017 at 07:41 PM.
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  6. #51
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    Did you see how Anthony Lane describes Adam Driver? He is the actor of the moment. The NYFF had two "evenings with" and the featured ones were him and Kristen Stewart (also in with cool directors).

    I am impressed by Golshifteh Farahani. She is beautiful, vivacious, and has performed in Farsi, French, and English with equal fluency.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 03-06-2017 at 09:51 PM.

  7. #52
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    Yes, she's just as great as Adam Driver in this, this is a real movie duo here...
    Lane's right...Adam is A-List now. This movie is proof of his acting chops.
    I agree with you that this Jarmusch is very similar to Broken Flowers, in its' wit and deadpan humour and very alive "reality".
    I admire Jim very very much. I look forward to every film from him. Tilda Swinton was right. He's a Rock Star.
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  8. #53
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    Yes. Nothing can compare to the delight of discovery of watching Jim Jarmusch's first four films (excluding his actual first, which I saw later). I can remember sitting in the theater seeing Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law and hardly believing how great they were. Like when I saw True Romance, not directed by Tarantino (by the late Tony Scott) but the scenario by him I"d seen, and thinking, "This if for me!" I liked it better than Reservoir Dogs. It is better and way funnier. The scene with Chris Walkin and Dennis Hopper!!!

    Lane's droll take on Adam:
    There is more to Paterson, however; there has to be, since he is played by Adam Driver. One glance at the guy, and you instantly wonder, Why the long face? So fine are those pallid features, skittering with anxiety and intent, that his agent must be constantly tempted to skip the movie offers and enter him in the Kentucky Derby. Driver has a hint of Basil Rathbone, but without the dash, and the time may come when he delivers the most highly strung Sherlock Holmes ever witnessed onscreen. Little surprise, then, that Paterson should harbor a secret—a private fixation, known only to his wife, which keeps him down in the basement, after hours. You can be forgiven for assuming that he is a serial killer, or an abductor, those being the only vocations, as far as movies and TV are concerned, that drive quiet men to their cellars, but no. Paterson does something even more inexplicable. He writes poems.
    You know for Scorsese's punishing (for us and them) Silence Driver lost 50 pounds, Andrew Garfield lost 40 pounds, and Liam Neeson lost 20 pounds? Driver doesn't look good so skinny. His big ears stick out a mile. Neeson has looked better too.
    Last edited by Chris Knipp; 03-06-2017 at 09:59 PM.

  9. #54
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    Great points. Jarmusch's filmography inspires awe, which is what the best Iconoclasts do.
    Anthony Lane is droll. He's right tho. I was wondering why he would write in the cellar. It was never explained why. I mean, he goes down there to focus on the writing, right? Yet he leaves the notebook on the couch...for Marvin.
    And then didn't get emotionally upset...he internalized it. It made me wonder if he did it on purpose, to see if Laura would leave him. Because he wrote once that he would rip his heart out and never put it back if she left him. And he hesitated when she wanted him to make copies of his poems.
    That sounded serial-killer-ish, no?
    Last edited by Johann; 03-06-2017 at 11:27 PM.
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  10. #55
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    I don't see the serial killerish part - Peterson seems so calm and gentle (but I guess killers fool people that way!). He seems like a spiritual, enlightened person, at peace with the world and happy, as if he's got things figured out. And he has a perfect beautiful woman whom he loves. However, you've thought about it more than I have. I just accepted it as a finished work of art not to be questioned. Going down in the cellar had seemed right because it's a small house, so where else can he go to get away? However, he is serene in a slightly self-destructive way: not backing up his major art project, his book of poems. That goes with being monklike though.

  11. #56
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    Well the thing that made me think he may be a bit psycho was balking at making copies of his poems. If he loves her totally, then why the hell wouldn't he JUMP at making copies for her? He didn't. He hesitated, and it made no sense. What was he aiming for with his poetry? He didn't want to show the world...why?
    We never find out. He may be spiritual, but is he really? What spiritual person would "rip their heart out"? metaphorically or otherwise? He was happier meeting that Japanese guy than he was getting out of bed everyday! LOL
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  12. #57
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    Each shot and sequence in Paterson was sublime, truly. Some great cinema moments...like when Everett "clears out" the bar, even normal things like walking down the sidewalk, walking Marvin, Laura icing cupcakes in her "style", her "painting" and "decorating"- very adorable. She wants to be a country singer in Nashville, playing a special black and white harlequin guitar...

    If you love films, then this is the kind of film you look for. Even just street-shots of the bus driving in and around Paterson...fabulous. I wish all directors had such intution.
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

  13. #58
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840
    Both your statements are true, I guess. . . But Paterson is meant to be mysterious; all Jarmusch's protagonists are - so assume a logic we don't understand. You did say the film was sublime.

  14. #59
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    SF Bay Area
    Posts
    15,840


    April 12-15 at the Metrograph Theater NYC

    JAMES GRAY

    Career Retrospective Includes Sneak Preview of
    The Lost City of Z in 35mm
    This is one from the NYFF that I missed so far - coming out soon. The Metrograph, down in Chinatown in NYC, is becoming quite the destination, a gathering place for interesting movie events. I like James Gray - and appreciate his love of film (vs. digital) - and this retrospective would be great fun. I wish I were there, but, in compensation, I am doing some coverage of the San Francisco film festival (5-19 April 2017)

  15. #60
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Ottawa Canada
    Posts
    5,656
    Excellent...thanks for the info!
    I'm not familiar with James Gray.
    "Set the controls for the heart of the Sun" - Pink Floyd

Page 4 of 5 FirstFirst ... 2345 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •