Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson is a film about a week in the life of a bus driver named Paterson who lives in Paterson, New Jersey, and writes poems. We witness his routine, his aversion to change, the overheard conversations, his life with his wannabe artist wife (Laura, played by Golshifteh Farahani), his English bulldog, and that’s about all. What makes this film interesting, however, is the everydayness of his life, and while we’re at it, that his poems are not doggerel, but simply bland. Granted, this banality ultimately works as a strength because this isn’t a film about a great, neglected writer working a ‘regular job,’ but rather, a regular guy who happens to write regular poems. 

Set in the birthplace of William Carlos Williams, Paterson goes about his daily routine (he is so stuck in his ways that he doesn’t even want a smartphone), while his ‘artsy’ wife remains home. Ironically, the two could not be more different, as she seems to jump from passion to passion depending on the day. From starting her own cupcake business, to painting, interior decorating, guitar playing, she doesn’t seem to know what she wants but is rather content cheering on her husband. (She purchases a guitar online with DVD instructions in the hopes of being the next Tammy Wynette or Patsy Cline, and the guitar also happens to match her outfit.) Convinced that Paterson is a great poet, she encourages him to publish his poems, or at minimum, make copies. (He promises her that he’ll make copies by the weekend, but unfortunately, their English bulldog, Marvin, chews up his notebook.) […]