Top 25 of 2016: 23) Paterson

PATERSON REVIEWED

“Paterson” allows an actor like Adam Driver to blossom. Too often, younger actors dive into the expansive roles which leave so many drowning. Jim Jarmusch treasure finding the beauty of the mundane. As Jarmusch’s camera follows the bus driving Driver through Paterson, we get to see Driver blend into his world. Flowing freely between random citizens, a cute dog, an OCD girlfriend and a local business owner…this is a world that doesn’t need an audience. Yet, it feels like the greatest novel to screen adaptation.

While Jarmusch deals in the cinema of the nearly comatose, the guy has a great sense of what makes people work. Driver’s bus driving character doesn’t want to draw attention to himself. He just exists as yet another guy in a town that he loves. This laid-back approach is enough to drive most audiences up a wall. There’s a sense within audiences that they’re owed something fantastic when hitting the cinema. That’s not always the case.

When you’re lucky enough to watch Paterson, you have to treat it like a turn of the century novel. It’s a passport to a life that you may or may not live. What matters is that you have the chance to enjoy and connect with characters that feel real. Humanity onscreen is an odd mirror upon society, so the response to this film says more about the people viewing it. Honestly, I’d love to hear more from AV readers when this film hits home video.

FILM STATS

• 1 hr and 58 mins
• R
• Amazon Studios

RELEASE DATE: 12/28/16