Paterson (2016)

Jim Jarmusch - USA - 2016 - 118' - English, Italian - English subtitles

Seven days in the life of Paterson, a bus driver in the town of Paterson in New Jersey. He lives in a small house with his wife Laura and their English bulldog Marvin. Paterson is a man of routine – he gets up every morning at the same time, eats his Cheerios for breakfast and writes down some thoughts before he begins his shift driving the same route day by day. As soon as he is at home, he processes everything he has observed during the day into poems. Although he has dedicated his life to poetry, he would neither describe himself as a poet nor publish anything. A chance encounter may have the potential to change that.

Paterson is a highly enchanting and poetic film by the director Jim Jamusch, which celebrated its premiere at Cannes Film Festival in 2016. The minimalist texts that Jarmusch has his protagonist Paterson write are inspired by the work of the poet William Carlos Williams, who wrote an epic poem in five volumes about the town of Paterson that is considered his masterpiece.