It’s really hard to tell a story about a normal person where nothing happens to them. Only Richard Linklater can make movies about nothing that captivating. Jim Jarmusch attempts to tell the most extreme version of this story: a happily married, dog owning, weekday bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey. Jarmusch does his damdest to make a guy named Paterson (Adam Driver) poetic, but you can only infuse so much art into a story; at some point you just get bored with what you’re watching.
Paterson (Adam Driver) wakes up and kisses his beau Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). Paterson eats Cheerios and walks to the bus depot where his bus is. Paterson drives the bus and writes some poems and eats lunch at a waterfall he loves. Paterson walks home and tells his lover about his day. Paterson walks his dog Marvin to his favorite watering hole to grab a beer. Paterson goes home and falls asleep. Repeat 5 times. The end.
Jim Jarmusch really wants us to care about the day to day grind of a normal guy. To sell us on Paterson, the artist bus driver, he uses every effect at his arsenal. Each day opens above Paterson’s bed and witnesses his wake up strategy, suggesting some potential tension later to keep viewers attention. Repetition is used rampantly to instill poetry into Paterson’s life: like the morning routine or the dog walk to the bar. The repetition elevates a daily routine into an artistic experience a.k.a. human poetry. That move in itself is a callback to all the poems Paterson writes, which are quite lovely and sweet in their simplicity. His escape is his writing, a very charming way to live out dreams for a practical person. These touches don’t stop the movie from being very deliberate and lethargic (read: slow and sometimes sleep inducing) pace, but if you get drawn into this guy’s life like I was, you forgive the slow pieces because they build to a greater whole.
Adam Driver is a solid choice to play a Jersey schlub. Driver makes the routine different enough each day to make it interesting, and more importantly, sells us on how this guy in happy with his day to day existence. Driver’s amusement and interest at the various conversations on the bus, a girl who reads him a poem, or a lovesick man and his irritated ex at the bar influences how he writes in his alone time, and watching the actor successfully play still is very impressive. Golshifteh Farahani is also very cute in her marriage (relationship? It’s not clear) with the guy. Farahani has a strong inner life that doesn’t revolve around Driver – her dreams revolve around Nashville and cupcakes which I support 100% – but she also loves him and supports his poetry and does all those little things that shows she’s happily in love. The real winner is probably Nellie the bulldog: just a killer face for reaction shots.
Paterson, New Jersey is quite a cute little town. It’s got a nice waterfall, some cute shops and bars, and a solid public transportation system that I think Jim Jarmusch was on one day when he decided to write Paterson. While this attempt at showcasing the everyman didn’t work, I applaud Jarmusch’s effort to showcase the people that make the country run in that way that allows people like him to make the art he wants. Maybe next time, Jim, how bout something as simple as a fight between them that gets resolved? Or a bus that explodes if it goes below 50 mph? Nope, that’s Speed, sorry.