Very excited about this! This was the rare Jarmusch film I didn’t instantly and totally love (Jarmusch being one of my favorite directors currently active) and I’ve been meaning to go back to it ever since. Will rewatch before listening.
What a great discussion. I was born in Paterson (so was my father) and lived there as a child and then again as a young married couple with my son. I knew a photographer who lived in the artist housing, my mother got her teaching degree from William Paterson. I often attended theater productions at WP... so many connections you have made it a MUST for me to watch the movie. Thanks so much
Oh, wow, Paterson is one of my very favorite films. I know the excellent poet, Ron Padgett, who wrote the poems for the film so I have another reason for my love. I'm excited to listen to this.
Loved the movie. Will definitely see again soon! Love that it gets me to read more William Carlos Williams, that great poet of the quotidian, for example
I first saw it because of Ty’s Globe review. I have since seen it four more times. I love movies that are the opposite of “blockbuster.” Adam Driver is perfect as this character. I doubt it would work this well if another actor delivered the lines or made the facial expressions
Thanks, Ty for giving me a reason to revisit "Paterson." While I found the film to be as rich as I remembered, and I thoroughly enjoyed the podcast, I'm slightly frustrated that I don't have an ideal forum to discuss the film. The Watchlist Comment section seems like the place for some fairly brief observations, rather than a deep dive. Still, here's a few comments and questions that in a perfect world I'd be sitting around a table with like-minded folks to discuss:
1.) While I agree with the observation that "Paterson" (the movie) celebrates the quotidian, I'm not as sure that Paterson (the character) celebrates it as we the viewers do. He's fairly inscrutable for the most part. For example, his fellow bus employee communicates a daily litany of woes, eliciting no reaction from Paterson, whose mind is on his poems. Only when he runs into a fellow poet, which happens shockingly often given that we don't see many people on the streets during Paterson's various walks, does he seem to light up a little.
2.) Paterson's true feelings about Laura are hard to put a finger on. It seems to me that everytime he enters his home, the black-and-white motif becomes more overwhelming, compelling him to journey to his neighborhood pub, where browns predominate (even the chess pieces there aren't the traditional black and white, but are shades of brown), or retreat to his basement.
3.) Are Laura's cupcakes any good? They look attractive enough to attract farmer's market customers, but when Paterson tastes the one that Laura puts in his lunchbox, he stops after one bite. I think it's interesting that after spending most of the week doing their separate things, Paterson doesn't go with Laura to the farmer's market. Yes, they have a movie date night (at a black and white film; there's that Laura combo again), but they mention that it's been awhile.
4.) Paterson seems more than a little pained when Laura asks to buy the guitar, indulging her latest whim to the tune of a few hundred dollars. He does love her, but it feels like they inhabit different worlds for much of the film.
5.) Even though Paterson accedes to his wife's wishes so often, I'm betting he never would have made the photocopy of his journal that he promised Laura. We'll never know for sure, thanks to Marvin.
6.) The paradox of poetry is how the constraints of form lead to a richness of content. While Paterson's poems don't quite achieve that richness (the 10-year old girl's poem is as good as his are), the week's worth of days in the film "Paterson" are like a string of poems in which Jarmusch works with the constraint of each day being so similar and rings such rich changes.
7.) Finally, what's up with all the twins? Discuss.
1. Thank you for noting that dog-close up reaction shots are generally a really bad idea! I think that really threw me off the first time I watched this film. This time around it was more clear to me how unusual Jarmusch’s use of the dog cutaway is.
2. What’s up with all the twins (and twinning more generally)?! It even starts with Paterson/Paterson (the town and the character). And then there are an impossibly high number of literal twins in the film. And then there’s the prominent use of reflection when he’s driving the bus (twinning the environment, so to speak). And if there’s “no ideas but in things” then presumably there’s some idea in the representation of the twins. But I’m not sure what it is!
Very excited about this! This was the rare Jarmusch film I didn’t instantly and totally love (Jarmusch being one of my favorite directors currently active) and I’ve been meaning to go back to it ever since. Will rewatch before listening.
What a great discussion. I was born in Paterson (so was my father) and lived there as a child and then again as a young married couple with my son. I knew a photographer who lived in the artist housing, my mother got her teaching degree from William Paterson. I often attended theater productions at WP... so many connections you have made it a MUST for me to watch the movie. Thanks so much
Oh, wow, Paterson is one of my very favorite films. I know the excellent poet, Ron Padgett, who wrote the poems for the film so I have another reason for my love. I'm excited to listen to this.
Loved the movie. Will definitely see again soon! Love that it gets me to read more William Carlos Williams, that great poet of the quotidian, for example
This Is Just To Say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
I first saw it because of Ty’s Globe review. I have since seen it four more times. I love movies that are the opposite of “blockbuster.” Adam Driver is perfect as this character. I doubt it would work this well if another actor delivered the lines or made the facial expressions
Thanks, Ty for giving me a reason to revisit "Paterson." While I found the film to be as rich as I remembered, and I thoroughly enjoyed the podcast, I'm slightly frustrated that I don't have an ideal forum to discuss the film. The Watchlist Comment section seems like the place for some fairly brief observations, rather than a deep dive. Still, here's a few comments and questions that in a perfect world I'd be sitting around a table with like-minded folks to discuss:
1.) While I agree with the observation that "Paterson" (the movie) celebrates the quotidian, I'm not as sure that Paterson (the character) celebrates it as we the viewers do. He's fairly inscrutable for the most part. For example, his fellow bus employee communicates a daily litany of woes, eliciting no reaction from Paterson, whose mind is on his poems. Only when he runs into a fellow poet, which happens shockingly often given that we don't see many people on the streets during Paterson's various walks, does he seem to light up a little.
2.) Paterson's true feelings about Laura are hard to put a finger on. It seems to me that everytime he enters his home, the black-and-white motif becomes more overwhelming, compelling him to journey to his neighborhood pub, where browns predominate (even the chess pieces there aren't the traditional black and white, but are shades of brown), or retreat to his basement.
3.) Are Laura's cupcakes any good? They look attractive enough to attract farmer's market customers, but when Paterson tastes the one that Laura puts in his lunchbox, he stops after one bite. I think it's interesting that after spending most of the week doing their separate things, Paterson doesn't go with Laura to the farmer's market. Yes, they have a movie date night (at a black and white film; there's that Laura combo again), but they mention that it's been awhile.
4.) Paterson seems more than a little pained when Laura asks to buy the guitar, indulging her latest whim to the tune of a few hundred dollars. He does love her, but it feels like they inhabit different worlds for much of the film.
5.) Even though Paterson accedes to his wife's wishes so often, I'm betting he never would have made the photocopy of his journal that he promised Laura. We'll never know for sure, thanks to Marvin.
6.) The paradox of poetry is how the constraints of form lead to a richness of content. While Paterson's poems don't quite achieve that richness (the 10-year old girl's poem is as good as his are), the week's worth of days in the film "Paterson" are like a string of poems in which Jarmusch works with the constraint of each day being so similar and rings such rich changes.
7.) Finally, what's up with all the twins? Discuss.
Enjoyed the discussion! Two things:
1. Thank you for noting that dog-close up reaction shots are generally a really bad idea! I think that really threw me off the first time I watched this film. This time around it was more clear to me how unusual Jarmusch’s use of the dog cutaway is.
2. What’s up with all the twins (and twinning more generally)?! It even starts with Paterson/Paterson (the town and the character). And then there are an impossibly high number of literal twins in the film. And then there’s the prominent use of reflection when he’s driving the bus (twinning the environment, so to speak). And if there’s “no ideas but in things” then presumably there’s some idea in the representation of the twins. But I’m not sure what it is!