Published on 06-03-2023
好東西要時間洗禮，浸出深邃餘韻。這些電影不多，一出現不容錯過，當中《柏德遜》(Paterson)位居前列。
Paterson上映那一年席捲各地文青界別，低成本小品引出海量「影評」，捉住一字一句討論，足見電影具縱深。本文也浸足七年才起筆。
平靜如水
相較於其意義，電影故事線極簡，Paterson (Adam Driver飾)是住在新澤西州Paterson的巴士司機和詩人，電影就是Paterson與太太Laura(Golshifteh Farahani飾)及小狗Marvin一星期的生活。
No complain，Paterson談起生活的標準答案，每天跟著自己的標準程序，6時15分前自然醒，吃牛奶早餐榖物，散步上班，收工散步回家晚餐，放狗並去酒吧喝杯啤酒。生活最大的「不穩定」就是太太每天的異想天開，或者巴士久不久一次壞車。
時日如鮮
平靜不代表沒趣或者電影沈悶，大大小小的角色充滿個性：深愛Paterson的Laura天天有新搞作，最大目標之一除了創業，就是讓Paterson為自己的詩作留低副本；每天和自己捉象棋酒吧的老闆；酒吧中一對痴男怨女；在洗衣店創作的Rapper；連小狗Mavin也是個性巨星。
結痂成詩
詩，是Paterson的核心，也是貫穿整部電影軸心。Paterson在能夠思考的時間，都化成寫詩的Me Time，無論是吃早餐、散步抑或上班開車，只要能思考都在創作，任何細節都是題材。
Love Poem
We have plenty of matches in our house.
We keep them on hand always.
Currently our favorite brand is Ohio Blue Tip,
though we used to prefer Diamond brand.
That was before we discovered Ohio Blue Tip matches.
They are excellently packaged, sturdy
little boxes with dark and light blue and white labels
with words lettered in the shape of a megaphone,
as if to say even louder to the world,
“Here is the most beautiful match in the world,
its one-and-a-half-inch soft pine stem capped
by a grainy dark purple head, so sober and furious
and stubbornly ready to burst into flame,
lighting, perhaps, the cigarette of the woman you love,
for the first time, and it was never really the same
after that. All this will we give you.”
That is what you gave me, I
become the cigarette and you the match, or I
the match and you the cigarette, blazing
with kisses that smoulder toward heaven.
夠不夠美？再來一首
Another One
When you’re a child you learn there are three dimensions
Height, width and depth
Like a shoebox
Then later you hear there’s a fourth dimension
Time
Hmm
Then some say there can be five, six, seven…
I knock off work
Have a beer at the bar
I look down at the glass and feel glad.
長闊高加上時間，一輛行進中的巴士，一個生活的維度。
Paterson擁有詩人才華，卻以巴士司機為職業，無意發表詩作，讀者就只有Laura。既是人生核心，又淡泊如湖水，一旦化為烏有又如何？
那一個周六，心懷創業夢的Laura製作cup cake參與市集，大受歡迎，帶老公外出慶功，獨留家中的性格巨星Marvin把Paterson 大意遺下、唯一一本且沒有聽老婆囑咐留副本的詩作筆記本咬成碎片。
突如其來的巨變，Paterson突然六神無主，無力的周日遇上驚喜登場的日本詩人(永瀨正敏飾)。日本詩人個性最為鮮明，與同為詩人的Paterson萍水相逢，文人相輕，充滿睿智：
Poetry in translation is like taking a shower with a raincoat on.
臨別時日本詩人送贈一本新筆記本，留下醍醐灌頂、讓傷口結痂成詩的一句：
Sometimes an empty page presents most possibilities.
在全新筆記本上，第一首詩：
The Line
There’s an old song
my grandfather used to sing
that has the question,
“Or would you rather be a fish?”
In the same song
is the same question
but with a mule and a pig,
but the one I hear sometimes
in my head is the fish one.
Just that one line.
Would you rather be a fish?
As if the rest of the song
didn’t have to be there.
如是者，Paterson的一周結束，漣漪瞬間過去，充滿可能性的一周又開始。
人生若戲若夢
電影有些相對隱閉的符號，比如說Laura 某天起床對Paterson分享自己昨晚夢到生了一對雙胞胎。隨後電影中出現不尋常地多的雙胞胎角色，那會不會一切都是Paterson 的自創維度？
如此有趣電影，導演當然非等閑之輩。Jim Jarmusch為美國獨立電影教父，獨立電影是「缺錢」代名詞，即使如Jim Jarmusch，找幾百萬美元資金也不容易，傳统製片商亦難以投資於Paterson此類題材。幸而，電影屬首批Amazon Studios發行電影。創意加點時勢，電影的誕生本身就頗夢幻。
用一頁白紙，創出N個維度。
