Nyff 2016

[Johann]

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.

[Chris Knipp]

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.

[Johann]

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?

[Chris Knipp]

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.

[Johann]

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

[Johann]

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.

[Chris Knipp]

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.