Paterson - The Sacred in the Ordinary

Paterson is a film that shares the story between two very different people in a relationship with each other living their mundane lives in their own unique ways. Paterson is a bus driver who adheres to the mundane rhythms of life but finds the sacred in the ordinary through his poetry. Every day he finds something through the mundane. While in contrast his wife Laura is a huge dreamer and artist who finds the sacred in novel ideas and following after her heart's passions. She lives an ordinary life with routine as well but she finds the sacred in her everyday life. The way that the film presents its cinematography is very simplistic and documentary like in its aesthetics. The ordinariness is very much felt in the way the camera captures very simple moments such as Paterson driving the bus or eating lunch in the park which is often repeated throughout the film. Which makes it very unique because its very reminiscent of our everyday lives and how we desire to seek something spiritual. I think what marks moments as sacred in the film is when Paterson would write out his thoughts into poems. During this process images of his words and hands writing across the page scatter across the screen which is very different to other scenes where it becomes more like a documentary style. I think that this film does a really good job in depicting the search for sacred moments in our everyday lives. Paterson is very good at being present in his moments which makes him an artist because he is able to process the world around him and translate those moments through art.