Paterson

Hot on the heels of a great word of mouth throughout the festival circuit this year, Jim Jarmusch's most accessible film in ages appears in the UK release by Soda Pictures on Friday 25th November.

Paterson stars Adam Driver as the eponymous main protagonist who lives in a city of the same name in New Jersey. Paterson is a bus driver who lives with his girlfriend, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani) and their English bulldog, Marvin.

Paterson is a city rich in cultural history of America, it is where Lou Costello (of Abbott and Costello lore) was born and their are near neighbours such as Iggy Pop (long time friend of Jarmusch) and renowned poets William Carlos Williams. Paterson, himself, is a would be poet and on his bus journeys throughout the day he listens to passengers and during his lunch break he sits at the famous Passaic Falls.

Using a trope familiar from those who have seen Amy (Asif Kapadia), we see what Paterson writes as he puts it to page. The use of Driver's bass voiceover is effectively used as he recites it as if he is reading, when it is fully formed we hear a more confident rendition.  The poems featured are by real-life Ron Padgett, who swam in circles along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.

Paterson is a unique soul in a small city - he is observant taking in the landscape as he walks from the bus factory to home, as many creative souls he listens to what is around him and not afraid to have conversations. Paterson does not have a mobile phone, he feels it is would be a leash and a burden on his creative freedom.

Critics may well say that Paterson yearns for a by-gone era of creativity, however, Jarmusch is making a comment on the power of individuality and freedom. Paterson was in the army so he has spent a portion of his adult life being ordered what to do, wanting that freedom to do what he wants to do is supported by his girlfriend, Laura.

Laura, herself, is a creative soul one who wants to be a country singer, can cook amazing cupcakes and has an eye for interior design.  Their relationship is one of immense support and companionship, they praise each other and are there for each other.  Critics again, might point at Laura as a manifestation of the post WW2 perfect housewife - cooks, house proud, domestic - which is not exactly an advancement of feminism in this the 21st century.

Yet perhaps in this difficult time in the country's history with a tumultuous political landscape and race relations; Jarmusch has created a film that is part time capsule and can show America how life can be without the advancement of technology, Paterson (the city) itself seems a bit out of time or frozen with the necessity of bus travel, black and white cinema and a bar without television; yet there is an idealised depiction of community with comfortable race relations, something for America to currently aspire to itself, and that something marvellous can grow out of the unlikeliest environments.

Whilst the film is a meditation piece it nevertheless does hold your attention and features from Driver, a quite charming and soulful performance of an individual with a burning desire to write and be loved whilst given equal love in return.

Paterson is in selected cinemas from Soda Pictures on Friday 25th November.

In praise of...Star Wars Minute

In recent years, podcasting has become the go to for further analysis and insightful discussion about all manner of topics. For this reviewer it is a go to for all NFL, football, current media and arts. From Bill Simmons to The Guardian via Colin Cowherd, these podcasts give great information and keep abreast of all goings on. Whilst it may make the listener feel like they are being spoken to, the garnering of information from various source makes you a more nuanced and knowledgable consumer.

And when on social media you become aware of other podcasts and products of discussion which led me to becoming aware of the Star Wars minute podcast. A podcast by Alex Robinson and Peter the Retailer, two self confessed Star Wars nerds who took on the impossible task of analysing, scrutinizing and celebrating every Star Wars film one minute at a time.

That means every minute, including credits of each of the now seven films.  They started with Episode IV - A New Hope and have gone in chronological order of production. When I first encountered them they were thirty minutes into The Phantom Menace, so I had some catching up to do. Nearly a year into listening to them I have listened to all of Phantom Menace and Jedi, I am an hour into Empire with Attack of the Clones just started.

My praise for the podcast is that it is consistently witty and funny; its constant poo-pooing of the idea of the force as being categorised by midichlorians, Obi-Wan Kenobi being a complete liar throughout the films, the long con of Senator Palpatine and Yoda having a Grover moment, after all he is a Muppet.  Even to the point that Jar-Jar Binks is not the worst thing about The Phantom Menace

It utilises the guests - look forward to the episodes of Chris Radtke - to great effect and the ambition of the idea has clearly come to fruition as they are now the godfathers of minute-by-minute podcasting.

There influence can now be seen by the number of films being dissected in this manner from Back to the Future to Alien cycle to Ghostbusters. They have created a market that cinephiles, geeks and nerds all together can celebrate their favourite films. 

What comes across most in each pod is the reach of cultural knowledge that the two presenters have, using all that hidden away vaults of past television programming, obscure films and catchphrases to good use when talking about Yoda's bulging eyes when Luke Skywalker attempts to lift the X-Wing out of the swampy waters, they reference Don Knotts from Three's Company and Marty Feldman of the 1970s. It shows how influential televisual culture was on children born in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and how important those programmes were as avatars of parenting and moulding of children.

The podcast is growing more and more, they have just begun Attack of the Clones as I mentioned and while I look forward to them dissecting the worst episode of the Star Wars cycle there promises more to come with Revenge of the Sith this time next year and eventually The Force Awakens in 2018.

You can support Star Wars Minute via Patreon, where you can access bonus episodes and help keep the website going. And follow them on Twitter @StarWarsMinute

There is a great community of Star Wars fans who went quiet before the second trilogy appeared in 1999 and since has got stronger. With Disney buying out George Lucas and now owning the franchise, the forthcoming origin films of Han Solo, Lando and Boba Fett promise that the community will only get bigger and this sharing of affection and love of the film will keep getting stronger.

Striker or Forward?

I have a question, I need to ask somebody. What is the difference between a striker and a forward, a centre forward by its greater catergorisation?

striker

ˈstrʌɪkə/

noun

1. 2.

   the player who is to strike the ball in a game; a player considered in terms of ability to strike the ball.

   "a gifted striker of the ball"

forward

ˈfɔːwəd/

adverb

1. 1.

   in the direction that one is facing or travelling; towards the front.

   "he started up the engine and the car moved forward"

   synonyms:

   ahead, forwards, onwards, onward, on, further "the traffic moved slowly forward"

   • 
     

adjective

1. 1.

   directed or facing towards the front or the direction that one is facing or travelling.

   "forward flight"
2. 
   

noun

1. 1.

   an attacking player in football, hockey, or other sports.

These are the Oxford English dictionary definitions of the two terms. Football throughout its history is defined by the goals scored and the players who score them. Goalscorers are widely lauded and more fondly remembered in the annals of football; the Ballon d'Or (FIFA World Player of the Year) has been won by defenders and goalkeepers on only three occasions (Yashin, Sammer, Cannavaro).

The reason I want to ask this question is because of the way pundits and commentators refer to them during a game and in analysis. How would you describe someone like Diego Costa? Is he the same sort of player as Harry Kane? How would you differ between the categorisation of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo?

This writer is hopeful that there is a way of distinguishing between the two based on the role in certain formations and the tactics employed by various managers throughout the years.  For instance, I would categorise Ronaldo as a striker, one who is able to strike the ball well and scores goals. Messi therefore would be construed as a forward, he plays in the direction of the goal and is an attacking player; because he receives the ball some distance from the opponents goal and he travels towards it. Ronaldo, meanwhile, strikes the ball when he is near the goal making his late runs into the box and awaiting assists from his team-mates.

This is not an essay to say which one of those two amazing individuals is better than the other, that debate has gone on for far too long and they both are worthy of the praise they constantly receive with their place assured in the historical annals of the game.

My query is more so on how the positioning of these forward players is slowly changing as tactical mindsets alter in an ever changing football climate.

To go back to my earlier examples, Diego Costa by my definition would be a forward in both the current definition of an attacking player but also the forward in the mindset of British football as that strong individual who would lead the line up front, hold the ball up so supporting runners can join in the attack, distribute the ball to flying wingers much in the same vein as an Alan Shearer did do.

Harry Kane, meanwhile, is a striker in the vein that he is able of striking the ball well but fundamentally scores goals at a good conversion rate, able to score all manner of goals in differing varieties such as headers, curling shots, powerful drives much like Gary Lineker did or his current contemporary Sergio Aguero can.

By my reckoning, a striker is the one who scores goals regularly and a forward is the number 9 who assists the number 10 in scoring more than him.  Think of Mike Newell/Chris Sutton assisting Shearer at Blackburn or Peter Beardsley assisting Andy Cole at Newcastle United; all three players scored their fair few of goals but less than the striker.

A better example is probably the forward Niall Quinn playing in tandem with Kevin Phillips during his phenomenal 30 goal season in the 1999-2000 season, Quinn had 14 goals himself. That was the end of a three year partnership where Phillips scored 82 goals in 105 games, a ratio of 0.78 per game. That is a rate up there with the best of current prolific forwards such as Aguero and Kane.

So can we distinguish between a forward and striker so easily based on the number of goals they score, when you have the battle between Messi and Ronaldo going on and on, goal for goal? It may never be a clear distinction between the two but perhaps it is open for a longer and more thorough examination.

Tasseomancy : Do Easy

The Canadian duo Tasseomancy made up of twins Sari and Romy Lightman release their new album on the Bella Union label on Friday 18th November.

The new album combines the folk foundations of the pair along with the psychedelic influences of with experimental pop art.

Influences abound throughout the album from Kate Bush to PJ Harvey to other ambient electronic sounds that are awash on many tracks. Personally I found a lot of the tracks to be hard to listen to and not capable of crossing to the mainstream apart from the lead single and title track 'Do Easy':

https://soundcloud.com/bella-union/tasseomancy-do-easy

This track is the one that grabs your attention due to the unique combination of the dual vocals by the twins along with a quite hypnotic bassline. The only other tracks that comes close to matching the level of 'Do Easy' is third track on the album 'Jimi Infiniti' for possible cross-over appeal and 2nd single, 29 Palms

All in all, an album that on paper looked good but unfortunately did not totally convince once committed to the studio and a chance missed to perhaps do something special.

'Do Easy' is released by Bella Union on Friday 18th November.

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My thanks to OneBeatPR for the preview listen

Netflix and the Current Climate of Sitcom

When saving for a house with your lovely girlfriend you need to make sacrifices, you need to do away with treats as you used to term them. That means making do without visits to the cinema or meals out at Pizza Express every week. It means being with the one you love, sharing those time together so all money can go into savings towards a better and brighter future in your first step on the property ladder.

A benefit of this also means committing to a different viewing practice of television. Luckily, my girlfriend had a Netflix account but this was in the early days of the provider. We used it initially for catching up and bingeing on Breaking Bad, then we noticed that the company started to release more original content. Firstly, with comedy specials by John Mullaney, then they went into original half hour format of comedy sitcoms vehicles for specific talent.

First to appear was Master of None by Aziz Ansari (who co-starred in Parks and Recreations) wrote and starred in this semi-autobiographical sitcom of a struggling Asian actor in the big city coping with pigeon-hole casting and casual racism, whilst also incorporating Ansari's rye eye on relationships in the modern world.

The cherry on the cake though is possibly Joe Swanberg's Easy; an anthology of eight episodes set in Chicago starring a multitude of talent from American independent cinema but where Swanberg as writer and director is given a platform to for a larger audience to access his work.

Swanberg who came from the Mumblecore movement of ten years ago, has always been able to write relationships and like the better writers of the last 30 years in American cinema, can write women well and effectively, something his sometime mentor Apatow struggles regularly with.

Swanberg puts his lense and scripts on differing relationships. From a marriage of 15 years struggling to add fire back into the bedroom, to a lesbian love affair that could be make or break by the adoption of vegan eating practices.  Yet he also comments on how people change in a relationship or struggle to adapt to the big life changes in their life such as impending fatherhood or new employment.

Swanberg by employing a revolving door of talent makes it easy (pardon the pun) for us to not fall in love with characters, historically the appeal of sitcom is you would want to be friends with the Friends cast - yet by having just a swift peek into this couple's life, we are now in a position of either taking it or leaving it without the need for a fully committed 24 episode season as is the want on network television.

The Ranch, meanwhile, is one of the more consistently funny sitcoms of recent years. It has the tropes and mannerisms of a typical family sitcom, yet it deals with an undercurrent of social themes - a family business struggling in the current economic climate, a married couple parting ways as well as a talented individual having to come to terms with the fact that his career and life did not pan out as he wished.

The show was released via the online network with 10 episodes and after a short hiatus, returned again with 10 more episodes making them more of an extension and conclusion of Season One rather than a stand alone Season Two.  Despite the hiatus, I could not imagine how much I missed the characters and the ease of the sitcom world inhabited by the Bennett family.

What is at times so refreshing and pleasing when you watch the show, is that even though a lot of the jokes are telegraphed and the characters are generic; it is that sense of wholesomeness and heart on the sleeve honesty that runs through the show that fills you with a sense of warmth and belonging.

And yet because the show is so professional, perhaps too polished, it can still hit you with an unexpected surprise such as the end of Season 1, Episode 11, 'Gone as a Girl Can Get' when Rooster (Danny Matherson) finds his Dad, Beau (Sam Elliott - grizzly and terrific) crying as he plants some flowers and wonders why people leave him. The scene is played not for laughs, but seriously, like families can be on occasion and it ends with two people at loggerheads usually on equal terms; there for each other.

The Netflix vehicle should be applauded though as gone are the time to sit down and watch a 90 minute comedy, and why so many comedies struggle due to the lack of jokes and hit count of laughter.  By minimising the screen time per episode to the 25-30 minute running time, you have to hit a home run less often, and if it is hit and miss, there is no need to worry due to the next episode being available straight away. An audience is more inclined to sit down and give the next episode another chance rather than dismiss it and forget about watching another episode the week after.

The Ranch, Easy and Master of None are available on Netflix now.