Paterson

Jim Jarmusch may be the ultimate hipster director, but his films generally hit the mark for me thematically and culturally. So the same year that he releases an entertaining Iggy & the Stooges documentary (Gimme Danger) we also get a finely crafted feature film about the poetry of life-Paterson (2016). In Jarmusch's latest, Adam Driver plays a poetry writing bus driver named "Paterson" in Paterson, New Jersey hometown of of the great modern poet William Carlos Williams and the great beat poet Allen Ginsberg-among other celebrities. He lives with his eccentrically artistic girlfriend, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) and her English bulldog, Baxter. It is an episodic story in the week of this couple that celebrates the small beautiful moments in life as Paterson captured some of these moments in poetry. Since it is episodic, Paterson encounters a number of quirky characters at work and at his local bar that he frequents while walking Baxter each evening. This is the anti-big budget-Marvel film, there is no bombast, Jarmusch goes small to capture the little details of existence and how they can provide joy, comfort and awe. As usual, it has beautiful cinematography capturing the charms of Paterson, NJ.