Paterson

Synopsis: 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 resu
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Director(s): Jim Jarmusch
Production: K5 International
  9 wins & 33 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Metacritic:
90
Rotten Tomatoes:
96%
R
Year:
2016
118 min
$2,141,423
Website
7,042 Views


I had a beautiful dream.

We had two old children.

Twins.

If we had children,

would you like it if they were twins?

Yeah. Twins...

Sure, why not?

One for each of us.

We have plenty of matches in our house.

We keep them on hand, always.

We have plenty of matches in our house.

Morning.

Morning Donnely.

Ready to roll Paterson?

Yeah.

Yah but, you gotta know more.

Tell me.

Well, Hurricane Carter,

he was a famous boxer...

and he lived right back there,

Paterson baby.

He looked just like Denzel Washington too.

They locked him up.

Why'd they lock him up?

They say... he shot some people up with a

shotgun in a bar and all that.

I know he didn't do it.

But then they finally let him out.

Right?

Yo, years later though!

But yeah...

You think before that, Hurricane Carter

ever shot somebody?

I don't know.

What are you gonna be for Halloween?

My mom found this picture on Instagram...

of these kids, they were shadows.

So they crept up next to the kids, other kids,

and they used to spook 'em out.

And looked like shadows.

One year I was actually a

Subway sandwich.

You can buy that one?

Um... no. I built it...

Dante Alighieri, the Italian.

Because of the bake sale this weekend...

I thought that if my cupcakes sell really well,

it might be kind of a sign.

A sign of what honey?

My dream!

To have my own cupcake business of course.

Oh... that'd be nice.

Thank you for dinner.

You're welcome.

I made these myself.

What do you think?

Oh yah, that's really good.

I painted them.

I like how all the circles are different.

Was your sandwich for lunch okay?

Yah, it was a really great sandwich.

Good!

I'm glad.

Did you get a little writing done?

I did, yeah...

You know darling...

I really think you should do something

about those beautiful poems.

They should belong to the world,

you know?

The world...

Well now you're trying to scare me.

I am not.

I'm serious you big dumbell.

Do you think having such wonderful feet

helps you as a bus driver?

Driving that huge machine?

Hmm... yeah, maybe.

Does somebody need daddy to take

them for their nice little nightly walk?

Just remember...

What?

Cupcakes.

We could be rich from cupcakes.

Really?

Well I'm ready for that.

Stop.

Oh come on Marvin!

Stay.

Sit.

Stay.

Thank you.

Hey Paterson!

Right on time.

Hey Doc.

Look what the dog dragged in.

- How you doin' Paterson?

- Sam, good to see you.

Good to see you!

I don't think you ever met my brother before.

He lives in Philly.

- This is my brother Dave.

- Oh, wow!

- Hi, uh... nice to meet you.

- You too. You too.

So, uh... Sam and Dave...

Our folks were big soul music fanatics so...

that's that story.

I see.

Hey you know that Dave Prater from

the original Sam and Dave?

He used to live right here in Paterson.

Oh yeah, I know.

Got him right here baby!

On the wall of fame.

- Well it was nice to meet you!

- You too. You too.

Well Paterson...

my friend.

How's life doing?

Uh... yeah. No complaints.

You?

Yeah... same ol' same ol'.

Yeah.

Yo Doc!

The Rutger's game is on.

You never gonna get a damn

TV in here?

Hellll no!

Okay, okay!

I'm just askin'.

I'm gettin' my ass kicked today.

Who are you playin'?

Myself.

Cold.

You look beautiful.

I was dreaming that we

were in ancient Persia.

And you were riding on an elephant.

A big, silver elephant.

A silver elephant...

You looked so beautiful.

Did they have elephants in ancient Persia?

I don't think so.

Not silver ones anyway.

Morning Donny.

- Ready to roll Paterson?

- Yeah.

Everything okay?

Well, now that you ask...

no, not really.

My kid needs braces on her teeth.

My car needs a transmission job...

My wife wants me to take her to Florida...

but I'm behind on the mortage payments.

My uncle called from India...

and he needs money for my nieces wedding...

and I got this strange rash on my back.

You name it brother...

How 'bout you?

I'm okay.

Okay, well, have a nice day.

Okay. You too.

Yeah... I doubt it.

You know that cute little brunette

from the donut place?

- Yah, yah, she's pretty hot.

- Yah it turns out she lives in my neighborhood.

Yah, the other day I come home from work,

I'm tired, I'm havin' a beer, right?

I hear a knock at the door,

I open it, it's her.

- Really?

- She's all made up...

- lookin' like really good.

- So what happened?

So we just talked there at the door

for like... a while, you know?

And she was like laughing a lot...

She was, you know, making eye contact you know...

She wanted to hang out.

So, then what?

Well we just, you know

we had a really nice conversation...

and then, you know, I...

was really tired and everything...

and hadn't really showered or anything so...

she left.

She left?

Yeah, well you know...

- I know what she wanted, right?

- Yeah. Yeah for sure Jimmy.

- These females are outta control.

- Right?

- Yeah, yup...

- They're outta control.

- Yeah, well? I had a similar thing happen last week man.

- Oh yeah?

Yeah, check this out...

I'm at Larry's barbecue party on Sunday, right?

- Larry had uh... barbecue?

- Yeah. The barbecue party...

and uh... I'm just standing out there

on the deck, right?

And I had already eaten a lot and

I'm just havin' a beer, right?

- Right.

- And you know that blonde friend of Larry's girlfriend?

- That um, Rita? I'm not sure you've met her.

- I dunno, Rita...

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes

Jim Jarmusch

James Robert Jarmusch (born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, and composer. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing such films as Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and Paterson (2016). Stranger Than Paradise was added to the National Film Registry in December 2002. As a musician, Jarmusch has composed music for his films and released two albums with Jozef van Wissem. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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