SPEC D: Jim Jarmusch. U.S. 118 min. Sep 12, 3:15 pm, Ryerson Sep 14, 9 am, TIFF Bell Lightbox 2. Rating: NNNNN
After the allegorical horror delight Only Lovers Left Alive, Jarmusch switches gears for a deadpan, down-to-earth character study about a week in the quiet life of a bus driver and poet named Paterson (Adam Driver) in the town of Paterson, New Jersey.
Jarmusch and Driver create a character with a palpable history and an active, engaged soul. Paterson is a man who’s fully aware of the world around him, and delighted by it his poems (written by Ron Padgett) are hymns to his own sense of wonder.
Not much happens really. The days click along, Paterson drives his bus and refines his poems, goes home to his wife (Golshifteh Farahani) and their dog and repeats the cycle the next day. But while the pace is sleepy, the movie is alive to every interaction, every possibility. I can’t think of another recent movie that plays quite like this one, mixing gentle humanity and absurd comedy with profundity and even awe.
I love this movie.
