Paterson

Paterson is directed by Jim Jarmusch and stars Adam Driver in the titular role as Paterson. Paterson is very much an everyman who drives a bus, goes to the pub, walks his dog, writes poetry and goes home to his loving wife and this movie is exactly one week in the life of Paterson. And that's kind of it.

Now I've been wanting to see Paterson for a very long time. I first heard about this movie when YouTuber Chris Stuckmann spoke about it in his best of 2016 video. This was evidently a very small release in America and after months of waiting I find out that it was getting an even smaller release here in the UK. Luckily enough however the small art house cinema that my university has on campus were showing it and I jumped on some tickets for me and my friend. I have anticipated this movie for ages and it really never disappoints.

But equally I had one of the worst experiences I've ever had in a movie theatre which I will talk about in depth later on and in a separate article.

To begin with lets talk briefly about the story. Paterson is a week in the life of just a regular guy, as I've already said, that's it in terms of plot. However, this is never in detriment to the movie as a whole. It builds up an addictive rhythm as the main character goes around his daily routine. Two days in and you're never anticipating some big reveal, you're just going with the flow and loving the characters.

There lies this movies greatest victory. This is a character driven piece if ever there was one. Paterson is a highly relatable everyman and you really empathise with who he is. As the days tick on you come to realise that he's almost a tragic hero in that he's always sidelined his dream and love of poetry in order to provide a steady income and fund his wife, who you can tell he adores wholeheartedly, and all of her dreams. And oh my, I never knew Driver could act so phenomenally. Adam Driver kills it in this movie with a subtle nuanced performance filled with warmth and love.

A special mention has to be given to Paterson's dog. He is the life and soul of Paterson and delivers some of the best laughs just from some of the expressions this bulldog pulls. This dog has just as much personality as the humans in this movie.

I will be honest and say that this movie isn't for everyone however. A lot of people may get bored by it's apparent "non-starter" plot. It is a typical Oscar gold, film festival type movie but if you're into this type of film definitely go and check it out and I hope you love it as much as I do. Paterson has a wonderfully rhythmic, engrossing plot with incredibly detailed characters played by even better actors.

Paterson gets of course an...

A.

Okay as I mentioned at the beginning, despite how much I loved this film, I had what I can only describe as my worst movie going experience thus far. I do admit this movie may not be for everyone. It's quite typical awards bait but I for one am not going to be angry if someone challenges me with a different opinion about Paterson. That's what I love about film as an art form. It's so varied that there is something for everyone's tastes and I for one think this makes it the most accessible art form there is. So you don't like horror movies? Go watch a comedy instead. That's the brilliance of movies.

I will however taking a serious fucking dislike to someone who's sat watching a movie in cinemas and they obviously don't like what they're seeing so they take it upon themselves to ruin it for the 100 other people sat in that theatre. Paterson was a really small release in the UK. Tiny even. The art house cinema at my university had a single showing on one night and it was a sell out. It was the only place in the South Wales area that was showing it so people were coming from miles away just to experience Paterson on the big screen. But this group of old women- not other students which surprised me- just spent the whole 2 hours fucking audibly trashing what was going on onscreen. Why? Okay, sure, you don't like it. I'm not going to argue with it, you're entitled to your opinion. This movie wasn't for everyone. But it does not give you the right to ruin this one chance experience for the rest of the auditorium who are really enjoying this. And when several people shush you several times then that's your queue to shut the fuck up.

If you don't like what you're seeing, just get the fuck up and leave quietly. No one is stopping you.

I will be taking my time to explore further the fault of movie goers today as well as a separate article on managing movie expectations later on this week so stay tuned for that.