14 December 2016

ISSUE NO. 1815 - "ABE, XOANA Y PATTERSON"


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

just my feelings about Paterson too

Anonymous said...

I thought it was sexist - that young woman couls only exist in a man's mind. But there was a certain anomic sweetness about it. I wish she'd been the bus-driver poet and he the ditzy sweetheart.

Nervousinacape said...

...hmmnn.. I don't know about how sexist one could really say this film is.. .guess It has some aspects, but it seems an almost cynical way to view a film thats so , umnnnn, irredeemably nice...I'd agree for sure Laura exhibits some symptoms of a "manic pixie dream girl" but only some, and most characters tick boxes.. For sure its a film by a male writer/director about a man, though Paterson is the protagonist he's by far the more passive half of the couple (with his steady day job and routines) whilst she is involved in taking (a slightly manic, or ditzy as you say) control of her life..

Plus, well, people like her do actually exist. in degrees like everything, but they're out there... I don't know... the only person who draws a gun in the film is a young black male, (and there were white males in the bar too) but knowing Jarmusch's filmography, how could one accuse him of anything there.. his last film (the great 'only lovers left alive) had more development with female characters, but then that was a story dealing explicitly about a couple, not about the male half of a couple, like Paterson.

There was a nice scene with the two builders on the bus, putting bravado on the face of their "failures" with women.. Paterson smiles at their conversation, until a young lady gets off the bus and rolls her eyes at them, and their vaguely offensive absurdities. Paterson notices and reacts, almost without reacting.. It's a quiet film which could just as easily have focused on Laura's daily life, but then it would be about a young artist/musician/baker in Paterson, with a steady, introspective spouse. I liked it very much, but then I'm a young male, working a shitty job and trying to find time to draw and write... I guess Im the target audience, and my view may be fogged on the subject.

blah blah blah...