The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
Paterson
Drama · Comedy · Romance · 2016
A week in the life of Paterson, a poet bus driver, and his wife Laura, a very creative artist, who live in Paterson, New Jersey, hometown of many famous poets and artists.
Movie details
Paterson
“Beauty is often found in the smallest details.”
2016 Drama · Comedy · Romance 1h 58m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.3 / 10
93.9K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
96 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
90 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.1 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A week in the life of Paterson, a poet bus driver, and his wife Laura, a very creative artist, who live in Paterson, New Jersey, hometown of many famous poets and artists.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Paterson?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Love Sarah
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Jim Jarmusch
Written by
Jim Jarmusch
Adam Driver
Paterson
Golshifteh Farahani
Laura
Rizwan Manji
Donny
Barry Shabaka Henley
Doc
William Jackson Harper
Everett
Chasten Harmon
Marie
Method Man
Method Man
Court is in session
Put Paterson on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.