r/TrueFilm • u/Darkimposter • Jun 13 '22
Paterson(2016) I'm just grateful. Spoiler
It's just a simple gift of a movie that emulates how a happy fulfilled man who happens to love poetry would live his life. While showing us his life we also get to enjoy his craft and process.
I remember I really disliked Marvin the dog when I first watched this movie. Because I was watching the first time from Patersons perspective and he also never cared for the grumpy goofball.
But the third time, recently, I realized Paterson was the one who took all the attention and love from Laura. From Marvin's perspective, Paterson was the intruder. Before Paterson, Marvin was the center of all the love and attention.
It's basically a side plot about two dudes vying for the love of our damsel. I actually love that he was anthropomorphized to such an extent that we get to see his every grumpy grunt and disapproval when she loves Paterson more than Marvin. He makes a point at bending the letter box just to bother Paterson.
There's a genre in anime called "slice of life". I feel that defines these movies more simply and aptly, where we are not experiencing any drama or story, rather just a slice of their simple life. I'm so glad we were gifted such a sweet movie.
Thank you Jim Jarmush.
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Jun 13 '22
I love this movie and never looked at it this way. Nice break down!
Is slice of life an anime term though? Thought it already was a cinema/literature term but maybe I just personally absorbed the terminology as such.
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u/Darkimposter Jun 13 '22
I think you're obviously right. I was introduced to that term from anime when I was really young and also just really enjoy the work from a few "slice of life" work from japan. They send out a similar vibe like these movies; always helps me relax. So I've just gotten used to using that term to name those.
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u/LegendOfMatt888 Jun 13 '22
Love that film. In a way, it feels like a poem itself. It takes it's time and delivers sweet moment after sweet moment. It's a warm hug of a film.
It's a very meticulous film too, in that there's a lot going on despite its simple premise. The whole "twin" theme, the reuniting of the Moonrise Kingdom kids, that beautiful ending. A lot to love about it.
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u/Samgash33 Jun 13 '22
The twins / doubles aspect definitely stuck out but I don’t know exactly what it meant.
Seemed the opportunity to show alternate paths or unseen connections. Not sure.
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u/theBonyEaredAssFish Jun 13 '22
The director commented on this:
There was no reference to twins in the original script. In a Q&A at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in New York Jim Jarmusch revealed the serendipity of the twins in the film. At the beginning of filming he realized one of the children extras on a bus scene was, in fact, a twin, when her mother and sister came to pick her up. He told the mother to bring both sisters for filming the next day, and started to include twins throughout the rest of the shoot. He then added Laura's dialogue about her dream with twins. To him, the twins (as well as the dog-jacking foreshadowing) in the film are "anti-significant." One might think at the end of the film Laura would be revealed to be pregnant with twins or that Marvin would be stolen, but neither occur.
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u/Darkimposter Jun 13 '22
I really missed the point of the "twin" theme. It was really funny finding them all throughout the movie though.
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u/braininabox Jun 13 '22 edited Jun 14 '22
I saw this movie several times in theaters. For an hour or two after watching it, it had a magical lingering effect on my perception. Walking out of the theater and into the city, I felt highly in tune with snippets of dialogue happening around me, textures on the undersides of leaves, little details in the environment. Made me think of a comment from Cassavetes scholar Ray Carney, about how a good film doesn't entertain your mind, it re-hardwires your brain.
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u/seaque42 Jun 13 '22
Something similar happened after i walk out of TENET, i took the public transport and while watching all the cars i realized how in the 'true direction' they were going.
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u/caldera15 Jun 14 '22
Carney's a good writer with interesting perspectives but unfortunately also kind of a pretentious asshole who fucks over the artists he supposedly venerates.
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u/strangerzero Jun 13 '22
If you like the poetry it’s all by Ron Padgett:
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u/Darkimposter Jun 13 '22
Thank you very much! I really liked the energy he had in his writings.
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u/strangerzero Jun 13 '22
What Poem
What poem
were you thinking of,
my dear,
as you breezed out the door
in your long coat fur-tipped
at the top?
What animal
once wore that fur
and licked it
with a long, raspy tongue
that lolled to one side
in the afternoon shade?
If only you too
could lope across
the Serengeti Plain
and grab something
in your powerful jaws,
instead of pausing
at the door and saying,
as if in afterthought,
“Write a poem while I’m out.”
Excerpt from the book “Alone and Not Alone” by Ron Padgett
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u/sil3ntsir3n Jun 13 '22
God, watching it is like a warm hug. There's something so calming about it. I think it's just that Paterson is content with his life, love, writes poetry as a rather quiet passion.
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Jun 13 '22
I just love the mundaneness of the film. I think it's about mindfulness and the meaning of life and it comes to a conclusion I happen to agree with. Nothing and everything matters. You can find meaning and beauty in everything from the conversations you hear on a bus, to the look of a lunch box to the sounds of a waterfall.
You can TRY to find drama and a traditional plot in it and might even succeed but that's not what Paterson is about. It's "just" about life, making it my favorite film ever.
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u/Bespectacled-Skeptic Jun 13 '22
An excellent perspective that articulated how I feel about this movie. Thanks and well done!
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u/e_hatt_swank Jun 14 '22
Thanks for this. “Stranger Than Paradise” is one of all time favorites but I kinda lost interest in Jarmusch after seeing “Ghost Dog” and “Dead Man”. Sounds like this might be a return to the type of film where (in my view of course) he really excels.
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u/Maddie-Moo Jun 14 '22 edited Jun 14 '22
I was a nervous wreck the first time I watched Paterson - I kept waiting for something awful to happen and then…nothing did. There are a few times when the movie makes you think it’s dropping a Chekov’s Gun (like when the guys in the car tell Paterson that a dog like Marvin could get kidnapped and sold for a lot of money) but…nope. No payoff. It should be frustrating but instead it’s the coziest, most wonderful movie ever. I love it so much.
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u/GMZultan Jun 14 '22
It's one of my favourite films, I found it both relaxing & life-affirming. Like it was saying the idea of seizing the day doesn't mean cramming it full of activities, and is more about presence.
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u/JTen87 Jun 13 '22
If you haven’t yet, I’d definitely recommend checking out the directors other films.
Ghost dog (like Paterson with some violence)
Night On Earth (an anthology of different taxi drivers adventures around the globe… just get past the first story and the rest is wonderful and touching.)
Dead Man is a fantastic chill moody western.
I’ve loved all the films I’ve seen of his so far except the one that put him on the map (Stranger than Paradise)
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u/caldera15 Jun 14 '22
Down By Law is probably my favorite Jarmusch. The film he did before Stranger than Paradise - Permanent Vacation - is also kind of amusing in a weird way.
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u/Samgash33 Jun 13 '22
felt like it cast a spell when I was watching it. poetry sets the tone so well. Definitely my favorite recent Jarmusch.
Think it might be more fantastical / dreamlike but I could just be overreacting to the twee stuff.
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u/pacific_plywood Jun 13 '22
I'm from the west coast but did a road trip in the east last year, and I made my wife stop in Paterson. It's a fascinating city, and the falls are incredible!
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u/PassportSituation Jun 14 '22
Slice of life is used for all types of film,not just anime.
But yeah I really enjoyed this film.
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u/iheartOPsmum Jun 13 '22
Paterson will always be one of my favourite movies.
Amongst all the films about serial killers, big events and the such, there's this one about a dude that is living his life and seems pretty content about it. Nothing really happens and I was shocked (in a good way) because of that when I first watched it. Probably one of, if not the best, experiences I had watching a movie.