The Chicago International Film Festival continues through Oct. 27 at AMC River East 21, 322 E. Illinois.
Adam Driver plays a bus driver and a poet named Paterson living in the New Jersey city of the same name, known for poet William Carlos Williams. Writer-director Jim Jarmusch crafts a paean to the quotidian, as captured in free verse. The style is notably softer than his recent films “Only Lovers Left Alive” and “The Limits of Control.” For this sweet, wise seven-day drama, Jarmusch may model Paterson’s daily routine, if not the denouement, on Chantal Akerman’s 1975 film “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels.” Paterson’s own patterns include a nightly walk with his dog and a stop at tavern, where the barkeeper maintains a shrine to the city’s worthies and luminaries. Paterson’s writing may never earn such notice, but his perceptions on everyday existence are a quiet delight. 8:30 p.m. Oct. 15.
