Written by Oliver Hargreaves

Paterson is a film released in 2016, starring Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani and Barry Shabaka Henley. The film is directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Paterson takes place in the town of Paterson, in New Jersey, USA. The film follows a week (Monday through to Monday) in the life of someone called Paterson (Adam Driver), who is a bus driver in the area, and his partner Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). Paterson often writes poetry, and keeps his poems in his private notebook (which Laura wishes he would make copies of for safety reasons). Every night Paterson walks his and Laura’s dog, Marvin, taking him to the bar, where Paterson has one drink before returning home for work the next day.

As is the case with a lot of Jarmusch’s films, this is a very meandering watch for the audience, with a focus on the quotidian aspects of the lead character and their life. The film is both visually and narratively slow, with Jarmusch not being afraid to allow Paterson to perform his routine in full, multiple times over.

A main highlight of the film is Adam Driver’s performance. As Paterson, Driver imbues the character with a sense of patience, and a consistent calmness that is incredibly satisfying to see done in such an engaging manner. Driver, through his specificities of movement and tone, maintains a level head throughout the film, and through his rigid routine we see a character dedicated to perfection whilst not necessarily exerting themselves to the point of struggling.

The relationship between Paterson and Laura is another highlight of the film, with the relationship being a positively supportive one throughout the entire run time. The big reason we see such a positive portrayal of the character’s relationship is because of the way in which they contrast one another. Laura, within the film, has two separate ideas for what her dream career could be, a country music star and a baker. Within the film we see her put time and money towards each of these goals, as well as consistently decorating the interior of the house with her signature black and white patterns. Paterson, whilst not outwardly joyous at these ideas, is nonetheless very supportive towards Laura and her dreams.

Likewise, Paterson wishes to not have a cell phone, goes to the bar alone every night, and is hesitant to make copies of his poems. Laura is understanding towards this, with Paterson in the film saying (in reference to Laura), ‘she gets me’.

A key aspect of the film is the poems Paterson writes. As Paterson writes the poems, we see the text appear on the screen, sentence by sentence. The poems in the film are good and although not great poems, they are effective narrative techniques to help the audience learn about this character through their art. As mentioned, the poems are not perfect, thus adding to the character, who is simply a bus driver that enjoys poetry, actively refusing to label himself a poet within the film on multiple occasions.