The tension of the screen: Viewing Paterson with unconscious expectation

I caught a screening of Jim Jarmusch's 2016 Paterson recently, and was struck by my innate fear of what would unfold. While watching, I noticed a constant tension in myself, unconsciously wondering 'when is the horrible, dramatic thing going to happen? Will it be now? Now?' I had to make the mental effort to push those feelings aside, and tell myself, maybe nothing like that will happen at all (which was the case). There are so few films, or at least so few that I've exposed myself to, which don't have some moment of violence or extreme emotional distress for their characters, that seems inevitable it will happen, even in the most benign films. Perhaps it is Adam Driver, who although giving a wonderfully understated performance as a considerate, thoughtful and kind man, nonetheless carries the baggage of so many performances as troubled and angry characters. I don't think I can put my tension down to simply casting though.

How curious that I've become conditioned to expect a moment of shock, a plot twist, an emotional upheaval, some kind of dramatic emotional manipulation. It seems a standard expectation that films should not be quiet, restful or thoughtful, but should, at least at some point, attempt to shake you awake and scream look at this. I wonder how filmmakers consciously play against that expectation. For me there is a tension in Paterson, not thanks to anything in the film (which is not constructed in any way to elicit that tension on the surface), but thanks to a meta-understanding of how films are 'meant' to be that leaves be waiting for standard dramatic upheaval.

Horror films most obviously employ a meta-tension in the experience they create, by their manipulation of the expectations of the viewer for the genre (Well at least since Wes Craven refreshed the genre with Scream). It's not just the horror genre for which audiences have unconscious expectations, and I'm curious to know how many directors attempt to play with the genre contextual knowledge that audience has.

I don't know if Jarmusch was doing as much with Paterson, or if he simply wanted to create a quiet, reflective film, with genuinely nice characters. Either way, I was glad to have the chance to spend some time there.