Paterson (2016)
85%RT Audience Score: 72%
Awards & Nominations: 10 wins & 43 nominations
Paterson adds another refreshingly unvarnished entry to Jim Jarmusch’s filmography — and another outstanding performance to Adam Driver’s career credits
Paterson is a movie about a bus driver who writes poetry, and if that doesn’t sound exciting to you, well, you’re not alone. But somehow, Jim Jarmusch manages to make the mundane feel magical, and Adam Driver’s performance is so mesmerizing that you’ll find yourself rooting for him to finish his poems on time. It’s not an action-packed thrill ride, but sometimes you just need a break from explosions and superheroes, you know? Give Paterson a chance, and you might just find yourself appreciating the beauty in the everyday.
Production Company(ies)
Paramount Pictures,
Distributor
Bleecker Street Media, Amazon Studios
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Paterson, New Jersey, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for some language
Year of Release
2016
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 58m
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Language(s):English, Italian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 28, 2016 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 4, 2017
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Barry Shabaka Henley, Method Man, Chasten Harmon, William Jackson Harper, directed by Jim Jarmusch, written by Jim Jarmusch, comedy, drama, R rating, box office gross $2.1M, reviewed by Candice Frederick, Kate Taylor, Adam Graham, Peter Howell, Scott Marks, Rafer Guzman, Zebib K.A., Brian Eggert, Ruth Maramis, Richard Crouse, Nicole Ackman, bus driver, poet, Paterson, New Jersey, routine, observations, conversations, notebook, dog, beer, bar, wife, Joshua Astrachan, Carter Logan, Bleecker Street Media, Amazon Studios
Worldwide gross: $9,588,282
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $11,817,544
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,909
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 1,288,718
US/Canada gross: $2,152,738
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,653,246
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,968
US/Canada opening weekend: $69,335
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $85,455
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,996
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $5,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $6,162,493
Production budget ranking: 1,838
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $3,318,502
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $2,336,549
ROI to date (est.): 25%
ROI ranking: 1,268
Golshifteh Farahani – Laura
Barry Shabaka Henley – Doc
Method Man – Method Man
Chasten Harmon – Marie
William Jackson Harper – Everett
Director(s)
Jim Jarmusch
Writer(s)
Jim Jarmusch
Producer(s)
Joshua Astrachan, Carter Logan
Film Festivals
Cannes, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 43 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (264) | Top Critics (69) | Fresh (253) | Rotten (11)
It’s 2016 and we’re still supposed to be impressed with watching a white guy move through life with quiet, alarmingly minimal, disappointments? No, thank you.
April 1, 2017 | Rating: 1-5 stars
Candice Frederick
Reel Talk Online
TOP CRITIC
As Paterson makes these rounds again and again, Jarmusch unhurriedly crafts a cinematic ode to finding both art and delight in the quotidian.
February 10, 2017 | Rating: 3/4
Kate Taylor
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
It’s not exactly riveting material, and even Jim Jarmusch – the veteran writer-director who traffics in the day-to-day contemplation of human existence – struggles to make “Paterson” pop.
February 10, 2017 | Rating: C
Adam Graham
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
Jarmusch, who made supernatural vampires seem human in Only Lovers Left Alive, now finds inspiration in the mundane.
February 9, 2017 | Rating: 4/4
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
TOP CRITIC
A filmmaker telling his story in pictures and the limitlessness of control he brings to his art. What more can one ask of cinema?
January 27, 2017 | Rating: 5/5
Scott Marks
San Diego Reader
TOP CRITIC
Jim Jarmusch’s latest has moments of beauty that help compensate for a slightly static narrative.
January 26, 2017 | Rating: 3/4
Rafer Guzman
Newsday
TOP CRITIC
A lovely, original, naturalistically paced dreamscape, this is a film where a bus driver/poet observes the mundane yet beautiful moments of life.
June 22, 2022
Zebib K.A.
Spectrum Culture
Paterson contains an effortless quality that rolls off the screen; the viewer settles into a steady and exquisite demonstration of the filmmaker’s control over his craft and the depth of his artistry.
April 5, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
This is a sweet celebration of life’s small joys and its oddity, and Adam Driver is mesmerizing as a poetic bus driver. Apparently Jarmusch intended Paterson to be an antidote to the modern action film and it’s truly a welcome respite.
August 4, 2021 | Rating: 4.5/5
Ruth Maramis
FlixChatter Film Blog
What could have been insufferable turns into a beautifully rendered portrait of people who find beauty and art in every day life.
February 28, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Richard Crouse
Richard Crouse
Driver gives a very quiet and soft-spoken, but emotive performance as the titular character.
January 30, 2021 | Rating: 8/10
Nicole Ackman
Next Best Picture
It’s not just un-cinematic, it’s also overlong and uneventful.
December 5, 2020 | Rating: 4/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins…
Plot
Exactly one week in the life of a young man named Paterson of Paterson, New Jersey is presented. He lives an extremely regimented and routinized life, that routine perhaps most vividly displayed by the fact that he is able to wake up at exactly the same time every day without an alarm. That life includes eating Cheerios for breakfast, walking to work carrying his brown bag lunch packed in his lunch pail by his wife Laura, having a casual chat with his colleague Donny before he begins his shift driving the #23 Paterson bus for the local public transit company, walking home where he straightens out the exterior mailbox which somehow during the day gets knocked crooked, eating dinner with Laura and listening to her goings-on of the day, taking Laura’s English bulldog Marvin – who he would admit to himself he doesn’t much like – out for a walk to his neighborhood bar where he has one and only one beer before walking home with Marvin. There are day to day variations which are often the result of how certain other routines associated to him manifest themselves, such as what drama will occur in the relationship of Marie and Everett who are always at the bar together despite her always saying that they are no longer together, or in what form Laura’s unique and distinctive design sense will affect Paterson’s life directly or indirectly. Paterson’s keen observances of what happens around him are largely the bases for the poems he writes, he constantly thinking of these and writing them in his secret notebook whenever he has a spare moment during his day. He is influenced by among others Paterson natives such as William Carlos Williams and his epic poem “Paterson”. Paterson’s writing are largely for himself, although Laura would like him to share more with her and the rest of the world. Something that happens to Paterson this week has the potential to knock his routinized world into a tailspin.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features a standout performance from Adam Driver.
Jim-Jarmusch.jpg
