It is hard to put a movie in words when there is much to say and no matter what you say, it would never be enough. Paterson movie is for every poet out there, who is invariably humming the hidden metres of life. It is for all the dreamers who caper on words, who like to keep their thoughts close to their hearts, and who are forever eluded by life’s countless mysteries. It is for those who look for walking metaphors, of allusions in the mundane, who seek ‘meaning’ in the void.
That being said, if you love to read between the lines, you are going to absolutely love this movie.
While there could be many interpretations of Paterson, for some it could be vacuous, for some it could mean the world, or it could mean nothing. Nevertheless, witnessing it all take form is a beautiful experience per se.
For a poet like me, it meant the world. It is probably one of the finest movies I have seen in a while. It is so good, I couldn’t stop myself from finding metaphors in its enticing images.
Here’s a full movie analysis of Paterson movie to help you understand what generally stayed hidden like how things generally remain concealed in a poem.
Yes, the flick is basically a poem too, and poems are supposed to be read between the lines. Hope you will enjoy my thorough movie analysis.
Paterson Movie Full Analysis with Spoilers
Paterson movie is spread out gorgeously throughout a week. It starts with a Monday, with Paterson’s ‘silent magic watch’ waking him right on time for work.
As he is in the process of leaving the bed, his partner Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) talks about a dream she had about having twins. We later realize that the Paterson movie is full of instances where twins show up.
It is this ability of him as a poet to linger on things and thoughts that transfigure into real-life objects. It is an intellectual remark on how everything in our life is interrelated. Laura’s reference about twins and then twins showing everywhere might seem normal to others, but to a man like Paterson who notices things with his beady eyes, it is no less than a miracle.
You are a great poet. All your poems are still in that notebook.
It could also be a subtle wink at metres and rhymes that always somehow sound alike in a poem, and Paterson movie is nothing less than a poem.
There are circles and patterns everywhere, in cheerios on curtains, on bus wheels, in the poem about molecules, and in our lives. The way things begin and then end in the same pattern. The way Monday begins with the movie and then how the movie ends with a Monday.
Every element in the movie like Paterson and Laura or even better Paterson and Marvin, like black and white stay juxtaposed to mean something, and yet we are all so attuned to it, that we overlook it all.
Bus Driver in Paterson
The bloke has a menial job. Compare it with yours. It’s the same one you go to day after day. You have been doing it for so long that no matter how awesome it might have been at one point, it has one day ceased to be. But you do it anyway to earn your daily bread. So Adam Driver is a bus driver in Paterson. Paterson in Paterson. That’s another congruity right there.
The bloke has a menial job. Compare it with yours. It’s the same one you go to day after day. You have been doing it for so long that no matter how awesome it might have been at one point, it has one day ceased to be. But you do it anyway to earn your daily bread. Paterson is a bus driver in Paterson. That’s one congruity right there. A poem already taking form.
There’s a photo frame of him on the table where we see him in Uniform. He has probably served in the Army once, an allusion that he has tried different things in life, and he chose the one that suited him the best. Being a bus driver isn’t bad for him since it gives him ample time to think. He aspires to be a poet after all. Since we find him observing a matchbox, and then carving a poem as he walks his way to the bus station.
Love Poem
We have plenty of matches in our house.
We keep them on hand, always.
Currently our favorite brand is Ohio Blue Tip,
though we used to prefer Diamond brand
That was before we discovered Ohio Blue Tip matches.
They are excellently packaged, sturdy
little boxes with dark and light blue and white labels
with words lettered in the shape of a megaphone,
as if to say even louder to the world,
“Here is the most beautiful match in the world,
its one-and-a-half-inch soft pine stem capped
by a grainy dark purple head, so sober and furious
and stubbornly ready to burst into flame,
lighting, perhaps, the cigarette of the woman you love,
for the first time, and it was never really the same
after that.
All this we will give you.”
That is what you gave me, I
become the cigarette and you the match, or I
the match and you the cigarette, blazing
with kisses that smoulder toward heaven.
He has a hidden knack for writing extraordinary poems that he steals time to pen. He sits down to write not just so he could finish things in a day, but he chooses to write whenever he feels like or whenever he gets time.
That’s how a work should be like, spread out and not meant to be finished in a day.
The Character of Donny
He has a supervisor named Donny (Rizwan Manji) who fails to get small talk. If you try to understand him a bit more, you will realize he is a guy who can only see his problems. We have cynics and pessimists in real life too, the people who will always see their glasses as half empty no matter how good their life must be.
Paterson is more of a realist. Since we have been witnessing his life on the big screen, we are aware of his insecurities and his dreams. But he remains neutral to everything in life. He is calm and composed, maintains a rare form of equanimity throughout the flick. His perspective of life isn’t all drums and glory, but a silent understanding of it, and coming to terms with every emotion. Besides he has his poems to burn bright.
In his daily routine of driving the bus around Paterson, he listens to stories, not being completely absentminded or blocked out by life’s countless delicacies around. Some are funny anecdotes, some are historic facts, some are conversations about life. It is these things that make Paterson’s work less punishing. It’s all the musings of the world in his backseat that channel in the form of conversations.
Marvin the Dog
He walks back home every day to find the mailbox tilted. It’s like that little inconvenience in your life that bothers you when you see it and you fix it every time, but it always manages to come back. At a later point in time, we are shown that it is none other than Marvin who tilts the mailbox to cause Paterson inconvenience.
The monstrous dog is a paragon of our extreme abhorrence. It’s like our fate that we are stuck with. We can’t do anything to shake it off, it constantly tags along. You could personify that ugliness into a person or a thing whom we forever overlooked in our hunt for contentment.
Paterson hates Marvin. It is that itchy part of her adorable partner Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) that he has to put up with. I am sure there are a lot of instances in your life that would fit the bill. But the hatred is mutual. It’s that jealousy to be the favourite that boils Marvin up. It is evident when we see literally every moment in the Paterson movie when Laura kisses Paterson, Marvin grumbles. Laura is obsessed with Marvin. She has him even painted on the wall.
To take the dog out every night is part of that blotch that Paterson has to lug. It is obvious that it appears Marvin has Paterson on the leash, as he tries to tug him towards places he wishes to go.
I am guessing this is your human ball and chain,
But Paterson is hard to beat when the Bar shows up. He orders Marvin to stay out every night while he disappears in for hours to have his beer and chat with Doc (Barry Shabaka Henley).
Doc – the Bar Guy
Doc is one of those rare good friends Paterson has who maintains a wall of fame to tack the best the city has offered so far. It is like that elusive dream you are after that will put you right up with the elite.
There is this beautiful dialogue where the Doc is playing chess.
Doc: I am getting my ass kicked today.
Paterson: Who are you playing?
Doc: Myself.
If you really think about it, aren’t we all in a constant battle with ourselves? Chess is merely a personification of it, a nod to the mind games we are always dealing with every second of our life.
Giving Up on Life
We once again close in on a conversation in the backseat. Two men are having an amatory discussion about their love life. They talk about lost opportunities but are content with the way things have panned out for them. They are just tired people who have let go of things, left things to fate, and aren’t actually doing anything to get back on the saddle.
It is their perspective that they have learnt to be cool with, even though unknowingly they have become hideous for judging women; So we see through the contemptuous scorn of a girl who alights from the bus. The constant war to please the other sex, and then to please the same gender, will forever be on. It has been this way since ages. We have to act cool amongst our buddies, and then end up becoming a slave to lust.
Paterson watches his watch as time passes by. Images of his shadow, the city in movement, are all suggestive of it. That’s when he helms another poem.
Another One
When you’re a child
you learn
there are three dimensions:
height, width and depth.
Like a shoebox.
Then later you hear
there’s a fourth dimension:
time.
Hmm.
Then some say
there can be five, six, seven…
I knock off work,
have a beer
at the bar.
I look down at the glass
and feel glad.
Another one is more of a poem on confusing things. With time, things start becoming more complicated. Life used to be simpler. Work used to be simpler, as simple as driving a bus. Now technology muddles life. It messes with the most basic of things baffling human mind.
When Paterson says he goes to a bar to have a beer, it is him untangling himself from a piece of that complex paranoia. Then he looks down at the glass and feels glad, because some things always remain the same. A glass of beer still makes him feel that life is only as complicated as one makes it.
Exploring Laura in Paterson Movie
Laura is like one of those motivators you see on TV, a success story listening to which makes you feel good, but you often end up ignoring out of lethargy or unsurety. She constantly urges him to do the right thing by making a copy of his poems, but Paterson simply nods to her.
She is that quintessential motivator who gives you plenty of strength, believes in you and makes you immensely happy. Laura is that epitome of life, brimming with buoyancy and the feeling of hope in your life.
I really think you should do something about those beautiful poems. They should belong to the world you know.
But she is also that success story whom you are watching grow. She is the one pursuing her dream, getting good at it, succeeding with everything she picks up, turning things into gold. It is evident with her paintings, with her dream to make it big with her delicious cupcakes. It is also apparent with her newly found interest of playing guitar, which by the way didn’t even take her a week to act upon and execute.
I love how you smell when you come home at night.
On the other hand, there is Paterson with his dream to become a renowned poet, but he is not even inching in that direction to prove his mettle. It does feel kind of black and white and forces you to marvel at the juxtaposition again.
Poem
I’m in the house.
It’s nice out: warm
sun on cold snow.
First day of spring
or last of winter.
My legs run up
the stairs and out
the door, my top
half here writing
Everett and Marie in Paterson movie
We find a dwindling breakup story in the form of Everett and Marie. The former is a hopeless lover who doesn’t understand the concept of letting go, while Marie is trying hard to break up with him, but it is beginning to get ugly. Paterson and Doc are nothing but silent observers to their unfortunate affair.
Paterson: Is there anything we can do?
Doc: Nah. I always say I’ll try to change things with ya, make ’em even worse.
The height of the torture rips open the roof when Everett comes with a gun in the bar threatening to shoot himself. Paterson tackles him to find that his smooth move goes to waste, since the gun he was holding was a toy gun.
Without love, what reason is there for anything.
It might seem like a hopeless side-story, but if you pay heed enough and try to think from both Marie’s and Everett’s perspective you can’t help feel sorry for both of them. You feel trapped in a web, and choose to be like Paterson, unfazed by what goes on around.
Paterson: Working on a poem for you.
Laura: A love poem?
Paterson: Yeah I guess, if it’s for you it’s a love poem.”
Method Man
On his way to the bar one day, Paterson eavesdrops on Method Man, an aspiring rapper, and artist. He pays his regards to him, appreciates the work he is doing. He is like all those people that we get, and appreciate because they are all dreamers like us. On asking if the Laundry Place was his lab, Method Man says:
Wherever it hits me is where it’s going to be.
There goes another conversation in the bus between students about Gaetano Bresci, the anarchist from Paterson. They end the historic ranting with a:
Male Student: Do you think there are any other anarchists still around in Paterson?
Female Student: You mean besides us? Not likely.
Glow
When I wake up earlier than you and you
are turned to face me, face
on the pillow and hair spread around,
I take a chance and stare at you,
amazed in love and afraid
that you might open your eyes and have
the daylights scared out of you.
But maybe with the daylights gone
you’d see how much my chest and head
implode for you, their voices trapped
inside like unborn children fearing
they will never see the light of day.
The opening in the wall now dimly glows
its rainy blue and gray. I tie my shoes
and go downstairs to put the coffee on.
Young Poet in Paterson movie
On his way from work one day he finds a little girl (Sterling Jerins) sitting all by herself. Paterson finds her to be a poet herself, and she too like him used to carry a secret notebook to house all her poems. She isn’t a fan of rhyming just like Paterson.
Young Poet: It doesn’t really rhyme though.
Paterson: That’s okay. I kinda like ’em better when they don’t.
Young Poet: Yeah, me too.
She recites one of her poems to him which is titled Water Falls, strangely suggestive of Paterson’s favorite place “Great Falls of the Passaic River“. It goes something like this:
Water Falls
Water falls from the bright air.
It falls like hair.
Falling across a young girl’s shoulders.
Water falls.
Making pools in the asphalt.
Dirty mirrors with clouds and buildings inside.
It falls on the roof of my house,
It falls on my mother, and on my hair.
Most people call it rain.
Later at home he tells Laura about the poem, and she reflects how the poem sounds just like him. Paterson once again reflects a twin of himself. People are similar to each other in many ways. It’s just that it takes poetic eyes to see them. Every tiny thing in this universe is interlinked like the Water Falls, the twins, the Secret Book (which was also the name of Petrarch’s early books), Laura (Petrarch’s love interest was also named Laura) and the circles.
People are torn between their interests so much that they supersede one’s desire atop their other half’s. Doc is scolded by his wife on stealing the cookie jar money for his Chess tournament, when clearly she was saving it to get her hair fixed.
To counter that ugliness is Paterson’s relationship with Laura. You can almost sense that contrast kicking in once again.
Paterson: She understands me very well.
Doc: You are a lucky man.
You can order Paterson movie here:
The Bad Day
Everyone has a bad day. That bad day comes as Friday for Paterson when he fails to wake up on time.
Some days something inside just doesn’t wanna get up.
It is soon followed by his bus breaking down. There is a moment of distress and it makes him agitated for a while. He doesn’t have a cell phone and he is forced to borrow one from a little child. A little child has it, there’s that collocation all over again. While Paterson is averse to keeping a cell phone around, and is tingled on numerous occasions during the week about not having one,
Doc: You still don’t got a cell phone?
Paterson: I don’t want one. It would be a leash.
and he could be probably right in thinking one way, but what he fails to realize is that technology makes life easier.
Not everyone is right. The fact gets proven.
Paterson: The world worked fine before they even existed.
Laura: I know darling but sometimes they make things easier.
Everyone he tells about the bus keeps wondering if the bus could have exploded into a fireball. Because that’s the first thing that comes to their minds. It goes on to show how we are wired to think in a similar way. Blame it on all the movies we have grown up watching.
The Run
I go through
trillions of molecules
that move aside
to make way for me
while on both sides
trillions more
stay where they are.
The windshield wiper blade
starts to squeak.
The rain has stopped.
I stop.
On the corner
a boy
in a yellow raincoat
holding his mother’s hand.
Marvin’s Revenge in Paterson Movie
In the madness of Laura’s cupcake’s viral business, Paterson accidentally leaves his Secret Book on the sofa while he was writing the following poem for Laura.
Pumpkin
My little pumpkin,
I like to think about other girls sometimes,
but the truth is
if you ever left me
I’d tear my heart out
and never put it back.
There’ll never be anyone like you.
How embarrassing.
Marvin takes his revenge by completely destroying, nay, shredding the book to pieces. It’s karma that gets you, your hatred for something ending up taking something dear from you. Here the dog ripping the poetry book apart is one instance.
On returning Paterson and Laura find the destruction gawking at them. Paterson’s heart explodes and yet we see him not expressing much. Laura tries to say all the right words trying to set things right, but the damage has already been done.
They were just words. Written on water.
Paterson chooses to walk out and visit his favorite place. He is angry at himself for not making a copy of the book before when he looks at his desk at all the legendary books.
On his way, he meets Everett who seems in a much better shape. He has finally learnt to let go of things in a way inspiring him to do the same.
Everett: Sun still rises every morning and sets every evening. Always another day. Right?
Paterson: So far.
The aforementioned is one of those cliches we always find in life, but we choose not to pay attention when it matters the most.
The Japanese Poet
Paterson is lost in his thoughts and weighing things heavy when he realizes that it is alright after all. He has gone blank with the pain though, that’s when he meets a stranger (Masatoshi Nagase) at his favorite place. He is a Japanese Poet himself who inspires him to never lose hope engaging him in a terse yet powerful conversation.
A bus driver in Paterson. This is very poetic. This could be a poem by William Carlos Williams.
He gives examples of all the great poets out there of how they too were stuck doing odd jobs in their lives, and yet they turned out alright. On being asked if he liked poetry too, he replies:
I breathe poetry.
The Japanese poet, however wrote poetry in Japanese, and was averse to translation.
Poetry in translation is like taking a shower with raincoat on.
As he is about to leave, he gifts an empty notebook to Paterson adding:
Sometimes empty page presents more possiblities.
It is almost as if he made out a fellow poet the moment he engaged him in a conversation. More like a twin from another land. Understanding the situation and gifting him just the thing he needed – hope.
Hope is in the form of the Japanese guy who puts a notebook back in our hand, inspiring us, asking us to never stop even after failing at something terribly.
We find Paterson starting up his chores all over again, jotting a fresh poem altogether to serve as the last poem in the Paterson movie. It went something like this:
The Line
There’s an old song
my grandfather used to sing
that has the question,
“Or would you rather be a fish?”
In the same song
is the same question
but with a mule and a pig,
but the one I hear sometimes
in my head is the fish one.
Just that one line.
Would you rather be a fish?
As if the rest of the song
didn’t have to be there.
Curtain closes when we meet Monday once again. It is the circle of life reiterating. Paterson movie ends.
Poems in Paterson Movie
In the end we get to know that all the poems in the Paterson movie were written by Ron Padgett. You cannot thank Ron enough of thinking such beautiful stuff. His poems have been provided apt backdrop of things Paterson is imagining whilst writing. They are metaphors for water flowing insinuating the flow of poetry, of objects in his poem and characters Paterson is thinking about. It is beautifully done by the director Jim Jarmusch.
Paterson Movie is of course not for everybody. It is a tad esoteric and for poetry lovers. If you liked my analysis please do comment and please share something that I missed. I would love to find out that all the time I invested in writing this mammoth article didn’t go to waste.
For more movie analysis and explanations you can check our Analysis leaflet.
You can check out the trailer of Paterson Movie here:
Paterson
Pros
- Extraordinary Direction
- Brilliant Acting by the cast
- Well thought of plot
- Superb Editing
- Outstanding Characters
Cons
- Esoteric
- Not for everybody
Comments
so great analysis!Congratulations!An extraordinary movie!!!
Author
Thanks for taking the time to read it. People are way too lost in mainstream cinema that they oversee such rare beauties. Astounding flick!
I just found you page, your article. I am watching Paterson, and went looking for someone else’s opinion. Funny, I am 62 and started writing when I was 13. My favorite poet growing up was Richard Brautigan. Some of the poems in this movie remind me of his style. I am also a huge fan of Kahlil Gibran …..I was struggling with some of the “writing” aspects of his poems…..the matches, again and again, but when reading your analogy, it helped me see it through the poets eyes. The poems for me, come through so fast and furious. I do not slowly build them, they more just “Show up” in my conscience and I have to scramble to get paper and instrument to get them down, before they disappear. I am going on and on, I really wanted to let you know I really appreciated and needed your writing. It helped me enjoy the movie, and settle in to my poetic, wandering heart. I loved the analysis, and felt the kindred connection we poets so often are lucky enough to feel. Thank you….it was not in vain.
Author
Thank you for the kind words. This makes me really happy. 🙂 I wanted to write the analogy of each poem in the movie but stopped on finding out how long the article was going to end up being.
– Scottshak
Beautiful analysis. I am a writer. I loved the movie. My husband fell asleep watching it. I agree it is a movie for the hopeless poet. I think the twins are the life he has vs. the life he could have. We all have 2 lives – that which we live and thr life we dream of living. Grwat analysis of the movie. You picked up on many things I didn’t.
Author
Indeed Elizabeth. We are all hopeless poets. A keen eye you have got there, to point out the twin conundrum. I am glad that you helped throw some light on it.
And thank you for the kind words. 🙂 Means a lot coming from a fellow writer.
– Scottshak
Liked the movie and your review is very thorough
Author
Thank you Peggy. I am glad that all my efforts paid off. 🙂
– Scottshak
Thank you for your loving analysis. You didn’t comment on one of my favorite scenes–when Paterson reads the William Carlos Williams poem,” This is just to say…” I was hoping we’d hear “So much depends/on the red wheelbarrow,” but at least I was sent to reading more “Carlos William Carlos” (a lovely joke).
Author
Hi Joyce,
I was meaning to analyze each poem that was narrated in Paterson. But the post had already become lengthy so I decided to leave it at that. Yes you are right that was one of the beautiful moments.of this gorgeous movie. William Carlos Williams too deserves all the love.
– Scottshak
THANK YOU! We wish we had read your thorough and extremely informative review before seeing the movie! We’re not “poetry people,” so though we inferred there was a lot of symbolism, it was driving us crazy not knowing what things meant as we went along. Wow — the movie was even structured as poetry !?! … PS I had the sense that the fabulous Japanese poet character was an apparition.
Author
You are most welcome Kate. That would have been an interesting take too, yes.
– Scottshak
Thank you for your analysis. I enjoyed the movie very much. Unfortunately I viewed it with someone who did not and I started to doubt myself. I am no poet but to me the movie was not just about poetry but about a couple who while very different, enjoy life’s simple pleasures, giving and receiving compliments and accepting each other the way they are. The film was about life and it’s surprises, different people in our lives, disappointments and about observations. Just, brilliant!
Author
Yes Sibel, you are right. Even if you don’t delve into it, it still is a very beautiful movie per se.
– Scottshak
My husband and I just watched Paterson. We both loved it. Your post is poetic and expresses what we couldn’t. Thanks. I’m going to share it.
Author
Thank you so much. I would really love that. 🙂
Please go ahead.
-Scottshak
I really enjoyed your review and analysis of the movie. I’m a poet and writer and loved the movie as all those above seemed to. A real gem. I was not aware of all the facts about Patterson. I did not hear his wife tell of dreaming of twins, so I was trying to figure out the significance when I discovered your review. I love William Carlos Williams but my favorite poet will always be Robert Creeley. Thanks for the insight into this movie.
Author
Hi Alan,
Thank you for the kind words. I am happy that I could help. 🙂
Cheers,
Scottshak
I saw the movie Paterson and was left with some questions. The movie tumbled around in my head like a jigsaw puzzle. I saw the whole of the picture but seemed to have extra puzzle pieces left over. That is until I read your analysis. Thank you very much, all pieces fit perfectly now.
Author
Thank you Frances. Glad I was able to help. 🙂
– Scottshak
I loved your review. It has made me want to watch the movie again and enjoy it with some extra added features your review provided.
Author
Thank you Hillary. Glad I was useful.
– Scottshak
I just saw your post as I was searching the poems from the movie that i just saw. Great post, I loved it.
The movie was amazing, it is still resonating in me. Plus, I got to know more poets that I still didn’t know.
Perfect movie for all poetry lovers.
Author
Indeed Peixinho. Absolutely loved it. 🙂
– Scottshak
Thank you very much for this complete review. I stumbled on this movie just yesterday and it made my day. Such a beautiful movie, so moving and touching, and Adam Driver was SUPERB.
Thank you for giving this read to this film. I do appreciate it very much.
Author
Thank you Laura. I am glad I was useful. It was indeed a wonderful movie.
– Scottshak
My thanks to Jim Jarmusch for a fantastic movie and to you for an insightful review. It has deepened my appreciation of the film. I am not able to express myself as eloquently as you do…
For me the photography has a major impact on the feeling of the film. As Paterson is reflecting on life we also see reflections on the bus window. Another aspect I took away was that Paterson experienced the flow of energy around him and Laura created energy around herself. Thank you again for increasing my enjoyment of a film I already loved.
Author
Thank you Caroline for pointing that out. It feels great to have a new take on a film so beautiful. I completely shut myself out from the photography bit when it has a major role to play. There are stories that narrate there as well. Thank you again for bringing that up. 🙂
– Scottshak
Thank you for this lovely review. I just watched Paterson for a second time, and was searching for the poems to read aloud to my family when I came across your review. My eyes are newly opened to the world of poetry thanks to this movie. I loved it! And I loved your review.
Author
Thank you Kimberly. I love being useful.
– Scottshak
Thank you for writing this! I was a little confused by the ending of the movie, and am slightly dense when it comes to poetry. I was so happy to have some further thought and explanation to help me be assured of my own interpretation. Thanks again!
Author
Thank you Jessica. Love it when I am useful. 🙂
– Scottshak
Thank you for writing this! I was confused a bit by the ending and went searching for an explanation. I’m a slightly dense about poetry, so Appreciated your interpretation and glad I wasn’t to far off in my own. The movie itself was truly an enlightening poem.
Author
🙂
Your analysis explained a lot of little details I had overlooked. Thanks for that! I’m surprised, though that you didn’t find Patterson to be the city personified.
Author
Thank you Barbara. I am unaware of how the city is. So sorry about that. That’s a wonderful point!
I just watched Paterson and really loved it. I happened upon your article, because I was interested in someone else’s view regarding Paterson leaving his notebook on the sofa. I felt it wasn’t an accident; he is very careful with it throughout the movie. I thought it was intentional. He had promised Laura to make a copy, but he really didn’t want to do that. And yet, he didn’t want to break his promise. He knew Marvin would shred it. Paterson wasn’t interested or maybe just not ready to share his poetry. In the scene with the Japanese poet, he doesn’t even admit he writes poetry, just that he knows the poets and poetry the Japanese man mentions. I’m not sure why Paterson wants to keep his poetry to himself, but that is something worth discussing.
Thanks for your analysis!
Just a thought: To me it didn’t seem as if it was an accident that he left the secret notebook. It seemed intentional, since he went back for it as he was leaving the basement.He didn’t want to make a copy of it, but he had promised that he would. This avoided having to break his promise.
Author
That’s a great eye Marlene. Thanks for your input.
I just wanted to say thank you for your analysis of the film. You enlightened me on lots of things I was unaware of. Even simple stuff, like the symbolism of circles and how the film starts and ends on a Monday, reaffirming this idea of cyclic patterns.
The Poems make a lot more sense to me now that I have seen your interpretation of them. However, when I first watched the film, my thought was that his poems were terrible. I might have been missing something but they all seemed a little pointless and meaningless. The first one is about matches and felt to be making a big deal out of something that was basically unimportant. So actually my impression when I finished the film was that he was this guy who wanted to be a poet but would never amount to anything because he wasn’t very good at it. This was juxtaposed against his girlfriend who was talented and had flair and could probably have achieved well with her talents in the future. And this lead me to see a tension in the film because there was this very real feeling that she could one day leave him because he was just an average Joe who wasn’t too good at anything. Then I thought that maybe this was the film writer showing how a perfect relationship like theirs was almost unbelievable because of the world we live in now which does not seem to allow that purity and innocence. Back to his poems, I thought the little girl’s poem was excellent and stood out above his attempts, further confirming that he was extremely average.
Just another note, I like what you pointed out about the karma of his dog destroying his notebook. I think Paterson was basically cruel to his dog. He seemed to get one little evening walk but spent the majority of that time tied up outside a bar, something which Paterson continued to do after being told his dog could get stolen. Also, the ripping of his book to me was just another example of Paterson’s pointlessness in the world showing he would never amount to anything. I’d love to hear your thoughts on my comments, thanks. You certainly showed the film to have a lot more significance than I originally thought it had!
Richard
Author
Thanks Richard. As a poet, I think his poems were very deep. It’s just the way of writing that seems very cardinal like spelling out what you see. But they are really profound, to be honest, when you read between the lines with most of the intense punches towards the end.
I think the whole point of all those poets who didn’t do great in their lives and were doing something menial reflects Paterson. All those popular poets you know, didn’t have a grand life either but became famous later on, may be not in their lives. They were simply ahead of their time! Paterson is one such entity too. The fact that he would write one day to publish his thoughts might make him famous eventually but it doesn’t stop him from talking out loud. It is a great satisfaction to watch him not stopping in the end that he continues to write despite what life threw down on him.
I think he would amount to something, may be not in this life, but that wouldn’t stop him from doing what he loves to do. That’s the whole point of living!
Yes what the dog did to him was karma. There was hatred and it got punished. Paterson was in the wrong there but some things like calamity, you don’t have control over. You could be doing everything right in life, and still a car could ram you over. It is just something you have to accept and move on.
It is a movie that forces you to think so many things. It is an achievement per se. 🙂
– Scottshak
Paterson lives in Paterson.
Adam Driver is a bus driver.
In actual fact, we have come full circle.
Beautiful movie!!!!!
BEAUTIFULLU ANALYSED! I loved the movie so so much it has a special place in my heart right now.
Author
Thank you. I know right? 🙂
So true, a rare beauty. I will pick up my pen and write again after 5 long years.
Author
Woohoo! Inspiring, right? 🙂
Thanks for the beautifully described review. Well done – a great analogy for this pure film!
Author
Thank you. Glad you liked it 🙂
Thank you. It truly is a movie about poets, poetry and I was fortunate to have found a few weeks ago. Your review is dead on. Kudos.
Author
Thank you so much Tara. Glad you liked it 🙂
– Scottshak
Thoroughly enjoyed the movie, found your review and thoroughly enjoyed your ‘pensive thoughts’ and comments. I wonder – do you have a comment about the ‘ah ha’ moment at the Falls ?
Author
Thank you Mike for the kind words. I connect Ah-Ha with a sense of realization when the Japanese poet realizes Paterson liked poetry too, that poetry isn’t defined by professions. That doctors, meteorologists or even bus drivers could easily be poets without being affected by their professions.
Then he realizes that all the great poets were in one way or the other associated with Paterson. They had at one point lived in Paterson. That there was something about this place that allowed these poets to flourish. He gets an inkling that even Paterson could be one of those great poets in the making, who was yet to realize it. So he offers Paterson an empty notebook so as to inspire this totally random brooding stranger to pen poems in a place where poets are born.
Love.
bless you for this.I needed more understanding than the movie left me with.lots of queries but I’m OK with that also.I too have written poetry since very young and I love also the plum poem of William Carlos William.he was so sad though, the beer half empty, he never asked for anything,
which was so sad.
Author
Thank you Linda. Some things are better left open-ended, kind of like life. Coz we haven’t figured out life, have we?
Yes, what is sadder is people hailing from same generation not appreciating their peers. A genius like him thriving in an era is remembered long after he’s gone. A story of every generation. Almost as if geniuses have been falling into timelines that are not theirs.
Excellent movie, excellent analysis, the twins made me look and find your page, I felt it to be the duality of the life we live and the life we could live if brave enough
Author
Great insight B. Thanks. 🙂
Your analysis are so well written. I enjoyed them and I agree with you on every single point. I would also like to read your poems. I believe you write them too?
Author
Absolutely Vaida. 🙂 Thank you for the kind words. Here’s the link:
http://scottshak.com/
Jimmy Jarmusch is himself a Poetical Genius. Paterson is perhaps his most poetical movie and surely one of his finest. The film may seem very simplistic and straightforward. About a simple bus driver in Paterson writing simple poems based upon his simple real life experiences. A simple, but seemingly contented life. Some would watch the movie and wonder if only they could only get those two hours back. But the power of poetry is that is can say so much with so few words. One could easily write a thesis on the poetical nature of the film. As soon as we know that the movie is about a man called Paterson living in the town Paterson, we know that Jarmusch is sending us on a strange, poetical journey. One thing that stands out for me was that both Paterson and Laura seem to have no close friends. Paterson has many friendly acquaintances but no buddies he can hang out with. He also doesn’t seem to have any enemies either. A fairly neutral, outwardly calm and bland character. His devoted wife, Laura, is much more whimsical and extroverted but there is no evidence of any strong friendships here either. There is a hint that her dazzling success in selling her black and white decorated cupcakes is due, in part, to her effervescent and friendly nature. Another small intrigue is that in spite of her apparent old fashioned wifely devotion, she never gets up early to breakfast with her husband, but gets up crackingly early on a Saturday morning to make her cupcakes. Finally, the movie seems to end where it starts—Paterson waking up Monday morning to resume his bus driving job. But one gets the feeling that the coming week will be very different to the week just passed. Especially after the mysterious chance encounter with a Japanese poet on the Sunday afternoon near the waterfall. Paterson has had an awakening of sorts and is now ready for all sorts of new possibilities. Thanks for your analysis—gave me goose bumps. The way that only Poetry can.
Author
Thank you Greg for your inputs. Extremely valid. 🙂
Tnx for your analysis, got me to dive even deeper into this movie I now have come to adore. 🥰
Author
I am glad that it helped people ponder. Thank you Johanna 🙂
Really amazing….
Keep posting this amazing review.
Author
Thank you Jayshree. 🙂
Soooooo good .how deep and encouraging your each word is …..🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Author
This has made my day. 🙂 Thank you again.
I loved your analysis, but for me I thought Laura to be a very selfish person she doesn’t ask him for his opinions, the food is always things she wants to try he only go along with her to not feel bad, like the pie for example, he HATED it, she also booked for a guitar even though it is expensive she only cares about herself and what she loves to do using his money to buy the guitar, she doesn’t even have a job , as if he is working in this meaningless job just to accomplish her dreams, and the fact that they don’t have sex, because it was cold as Laura of course said, I think he hates his life, the only thing keeping him from committing a suicide is poetry.
Author
Intriguing point. I guess that’s life. It is very unfair. Now that I think of it, we can’t have everything, can we?
We have many people in our lives that push us to our limits, yet we bear with them. Maybe to be loved?
What is not logical for me as a poet that he didn’t knew his poema by heart. Because I remmember all my poems.
Author
To that, I would say, you are fortunate enough to be able to do that. Not everyone is gifted. I can’t remember my poems either. For me, they are words left out in the open to traverse. Unless you read them, recite them, all the time they don’t commit to memory. I have had this problem many times wherein a file I am writing my poem on gets deleted or the system shuts down somehow, then I am left with that lingering thought alone, but crafting it in the exact same manner I had written seconds ago becomes a challenge because the first time it had been perfect.
I think I can relate to Paterson in that sense.
Everyone has their own way of writing. Some masticate their thoughts before spitting it out on a paper. Some like to do it simultaneously. Some just read it aloud once or twice, which doesn’t commit to memory while there are others who like reiterating it so many times in their head that it becomes a jingle that can’t be forgotten. I guess it is important to fathom here that we are not created alike.
Some are fortunate ones like yourself Daliale. Others, unfortunately, fall under my category. 🙁
I watched “Paterson” yesterday on Netflix and thought about it all night and into this morning, when I found your thoughtful and well-written review. Thank you for expanding my understanding of the movie, and for reminding me of the artists who quietly dwell within so many of us.
Author
So glad I was able to do that. Thank you. 🙂
Thanks for the analysis it is great! Although it is a small detail and may not mean anything I am just wondering whether the Japanese poets hand being injured symbolizes something? What do you think?
Author
Hi Denis,
I think it is symbolic of him already being mentally hurt or heartbroken for that to matter. If I was the director how else would I show him hurt if a person’s screentime was limited? I am thinking that he was able to connect with another shattered soul because he was in pain too.
That’s a good eye though. A lot of us would have missed that.
Thanks for noticing, and bringing it to our attention.
Cheers
We watched this movie last night. We take turns picking out a movie and it was my wife who selected this one. I’m glad she did! I am a “closet poet” I guess you could say. I liked the movie, enjoyed the pace, it’s nice not to be on the edge of your seat all the time. Something in the movie resonated with me (like you said, it’s a poets movie) and I woke up this morning with 2 poems in prose in my head. I got out of bed to write them down. When I saw my wife sitting on the sofa, I kissed her good morning and asked her to “don’t say a word, I have something in my head I don’t want to lose”. I then wrote down my 2 gifts that came to me while sleeping.
I enjoyed your review very much. Great job and I’m grateful for your time well spent putting it together.
Author
Thank you Ed. Much appreciated! I am glad movies like this put us in a zone, otherwise, aren’t we living the same old monotonous life over and over again?
Yes, took a lot of time putting this analysis together, but now that I hear such inspiring comments, my joy knows no bounds, and I am so grateful to the past me, who went on to do that.
Lots of inspiration and love,
Scottshak
I just watched Paterson this afternoon with a friend who insisted I watch it with him.It is one of his favorite films. I was completely entranced by the humour and tenderness expressed and I just fell in love with it. I want to watch it again..and again..and probably will!
Your review is very good, thank you!
Author
Thank you Sue for the kind words. I know right? Fantastic movie.
Thank you for your analysis. Your interpretation, and most of the comments in this thread, take the view that Paterson is a fully sympathetic character whom we admire – perhaps because he is enriching his mundane, circular life with poetry. That is admirable, but I think he can be so much more. William Carlos Williams was a doctor as well as a poet – he had a twin existence which both transformed the world through poetry and physically helped others. My impression is that Paterson has a problem: he is not really engaging with the world – he does not publish his poems, no friends come to visit, he does not keep a phone because it would be a leash, he seems to be indulging rather than supporting Laura’s ideas about how to do something more rewarding with her life. He seems to be going round in circles like a fish, or playing chess against himself and losing. He suppresses his emotions – after he intervenes to take the gun off Everett, for example, or when he quickly accepts the loss of his secret book. It seems to me he needs to find his twin self – the one that recognises his emotional self and his connection to the world – rather than constantly trying to keep the world under control and as straight as a mailbox post. Because sometimes the bus will break down, and you need to be ready to deal with that. This is why for me the most helpful character in the story is the dog, because Marvin destabilises his world, destroys his early poems and enables him to discover a better voice.
Author
That’s a fair point, agree with the last line.
Quite debatable for Paterson’s character if you believe in the fact that every person is built differently. I know many artists who don’t like to share their work with the world. It is just a matter of choice. For some people, writing is a release, that is supposed to make them feel good. Their work is not meant for others.
What you call Paterson’s non-engagement with the world, one may call it simple living. I know many who are ready to trade his life any day. Not wanting a piece of fame is a choice too.
I really liked your comment about the movie, but I expected some comment about the poet William Carlos Williams, but couldn’t find any. Will you add more to the original one?
Hi! I’m a designer and i run into this page while i was doing a research for a poster of this movie. Your words made me smile many times. Thanks.
Thanks so much for your analysis!
Author
Always a pleasure 🙂
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