![]() But his perpetual state of desperately-working-on-it has struck a chord with the public. A few decades ago, Driver would have been a gawky Peter Lorre, a weird presence strategically deployed for supporting roles. It-heartthrobs like Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt can balance sex symbol status with inveterate silly streaks. Musclemen like Dwayne Johnson and Terry Crews are free to be as gentle or goofy as they please. He comes to Hollywood in a cinematic era when the nature of manliness appears to be more elastic than ever. ![]() In a larger sense, Driver arrived at the best possible time. And in Paterson, the only lesson he learns is just how little he understands of the world. His hipster documentarian in Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young floats through life with minimal self-awareness. On Girls, his character Adam keeps hopping between phases of arrested development. Driver prefers to play men who don’t exactly mature, but rather advance to a new stage of flux. Paterson shows himself by reacting to his world rather than shaping it, and that reaction is either quiet contentment, or equally muted discomfort. Guidebooks advise young scriptwriters that conflict and growth are the two engines for compelling characters and sound stories, but Driver takes a back route to creating his character. We see identical shots across days, like the repeating bird's-eye view of the.Paterson (the character) enjoys a simple, modest existence: he wakes up without an alarm, drafts poems in a small notebook before the workday gets going, enjoys a single beer at the neighborhood bar after driving all over town, and goes home to his beloved artsy wife (Golshifteh Farahani). Beyond its form, the film also uses the poetic device of repetition to emphasize the routine of Paterson's life. The film comprises seven stanzas (one for each day of the week) followed by a cute couplet: the couple sleeping at the beginning of the following week. But he sees Laura's face in the falls she is inside all of his writing.ĪLTHOUGH Jarmusch did not write the poetry in the film, he has composed Paterson itself like a poem. Like Padgett, Paterson observes the mundane unseen in the driver's seat, he spends the workday listening to passengers on the bus. Ron Padgett, the real poet behind the poems in the film, explores small details like the blue tips of a specific brand of matches. what reason is there for anything?" Indeed, Paterson's wife Laura is his reason. In this way, Jarmusch shows that while poetry is a labour of love, it's not necessarily easy for Paterson.Ĭreativity is limitless but unpredictable, so it helps to have a muse. As the protagonist voices his poems-deliberately speaking them in his head as he scrawls them in his notebook-the white words appear on the screen like water frothing white over rocks in the falls. Paterson's creativity crashes down in much the same way. The falls that were once the heartbeat of the city-they drove the watermills and therefore industry-are now deserted, the old factories rundown, but still the water falls. Paterson writes on a bench overlooking the Great Falls of the Passaic River. Poetry flows like water through Paterson. A few disruptions of routine lead to disaster, but his poetry sets him straight, and a new week begins. Whenever he can, he steals moments-at the wheel before starting his bus route, on lunch break watching a waterfall, and in the cupboard that passes for his man caveto write poems in his secret notebook. ![]() Weekdays look the same: Paterson kisses his wife Laura in the morning, goes to work, eats dinner at home, and walks the dog to the bar where he drinks a pint of beer. The film follows the protagonist (played by the incredible Adam Driver of Girls and Star Wars fame) for one week of the summer in present-day Paterson, New Jersey-and, yes, the man and the city share a name. P aterson is the story of a marine turned bus driver named Paterson who writes poetry. ![]() He will make you laugh and send you looking for poetry everywhere, even-especially-in yourself. With Paterson, he builds an idyllic parallel universe where life is both a comfortable routine and a remarkable adventure. Jarmusch is a meticulous auteur who deals in details. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch delivers a sweet little story wherein poems spring from the quotidian like wildflowers sprouting from cracks in the pavement. Leisurely and lyrical, Paterson is a heartfelt comedy that finds poetry in the lives of ordinary people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |