Monday, March 6, 2023

Thoughts about a movie: Paterson

 Definitely worth watching! 

Adam Driver plays Paterson, a poet and bus driver in Paterson, NJ. His character grew up there. As did the famous poet William Carlos Williams.

His wife played by Golshifteh Farahani is a quirky fun story all on her own.

Nellie the English Bulldog won awards for her performance but died at age 8 before receiving them.

Paterson writes poems in a notebook. The foreshadowing is clear as his wife begs him on more than one occasion to make a copy of his poems. And he doesn't.

I feel okay about spoiler - ing since the film came out in 2016. Something happens to the notebook with his lifetime of poems which he has not backed up in any way.

The movie is poignant and beautiful even while it is simplistic. I definitely recommend watching it.

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That said - losing ones work is a nightmare for all artists. I have experienced it a few times. 

I carried a red hardback 9 by 12 inch sketchbook with me for a long time. 

It had extensive notes on a magical realism romance novel I was working on. I had completely named, designed and mapped out a town setting with a sprawling plant nursery and home for the main characters. I had character notes & back stories, plot ideas, etc.  

It had notes for a set of graphic novels I was dreaming up. The name of them was going to be Mad Tarts Guide To... The first one was going to be Mad Tarts Guide To Drinking and would have included drinks with exotic names like a Purple Jesus. 

I don't even remember what all was in that sketchbook. 

I was on an Amtrak train and a moron locked himself in a bathroom. They told us to evacuate and leave everything behind. I should have taken the sketchbook but they spoke as if we would be back on the train in fifteen minutes or something. Instead - I never made it back onto that train. They loaded us into a bus and onto a different train.

Bye bye sketchbook. 

I also lost a poem I really enjoyed writing and reading. If you read the legend of poet laureate Billy Collins you will know what a paradelle poem is. I had written one that was a masterpiece about Steve McQueen's blue eyes and Tom Hardy's luscious lips. It disappeared to I don't know where.

I am missing a scene that I love from my current work in process novel. I thought I found it once but if I did I lost it again. 

ARGH!!!

I leave you with a trailer for the movie Paterson:



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