Paterson is beautiful throughout—visually, in how Jim Jarmusch and cinematographer Frederick Elmes capture the wondrousness of an urban morning, and aurally, with Paterson's poems (written by Ron Padgett) becoming as much a part of the film as Laura's bulletproof optimism or the rumble of the 23. But there's something else beautiful about Paterson: Jarmusch's clearheaded, straightforward reminder that the most worthwhile art is made by those who scrounge, who have day jobs, who are the same as us: the people who drive and ride the bus, or who try to take up guitar and wonder if they can sell their cupcakes, or who hone their rhymes while waiting for the washing machine. The people who get through each day, finding and sharing bits of hope and truth as the world crumbles around them.

Read the review by Erik Henriksen