Night on Earth (1991) User Reviews

One of the great "world-movies"

[KWiNK · 9/10 · 25 March 2003]

In the early 90's Jarmusch delivered this charmer, a movie that unites America and Europe through one single topic, yet shows very different versions of it.

At probably the exact same moment people around the globe get into taxis. A stylish Hollywood casting agent mounts a cab in L.A., in New York it's a hapless poor man trying to get home, in Paris we encounter a blind woman, in Rome a priest and in Helsinki a bunch of drunks will tell their story. Yes, indeed. Stories are told, because each episode is an encounter with the respective cabbie, who all have a life and a past of their own.

Wynona Ryder's performance of the 20-year-old, chain-smoking taxi driver does not work very well and also makes for the least interesting story. But Armin Müller-Stahl as an East-German refugee and former clown, who is awe-struck and belittled by the bustling NYC around him makes up for a lot. His helplessness when trying to communicate with his passenger, played by Giancarlo Esposito, almost becomes tangible when it manifests in his complete inability to steer the taxi. Within very few minutes the two men develop an utterly deep and good-humored trust and friendship between them. I'd call it the funniest portion of the movie, but in Rome we encounter Roberto Benigni as an always talking, sex-obsessed cabbie. His is the story we get the least emotional or intellectual outcome from, but, hey, welcome to the Benigni Show! If you are open-minded enough to laugh about a few surprises in the field of sexual experimentation (which we don't see but only hear described without too much detail), this one will stay with you as one of the brightest twenty minutes in your life. Before Rome we visit Paris with the most mysterious, yet most catching segment, a curious story about the afore-mentioned blind woman and a black cab driver, who - we can't be sure - might be going blind himself (he's very short-sighted and therefore has problems with driving his taxi) and has a lot of questions to ask. The woman, however, is not interested in conversation, yet we get the impression she opens up more than the driver realizes. In Helsinki a group of drunks tell the story of their sleeping friend's worst day. The cab-driver listens to it. It's a terrible story about a horrible predicament and the poor fellow's life basically lies in ruins. And yet the cabbie tops the story with one of the saddest things you'll ever have heard.

The concept of the movie thinks of night as a place rather than a time, because all of the stories begin at the same moment in time but in different time zones. We move east in the process of the film and so we experience sunset in Los Angeles and early morning in Helsinki. Each of these times lends a special atmosphere to the story it tells, which becomes the most effective in the Helsinki story, which is utterly sad, however ends with a new day starting. People leave their places and go about their lives - the world moves on, none of the stories has an ending, life for each of the characters (except one) will continue.

What's so great about this movie is that it tells such different stories with such different characters who all have different pasts and intentions, each accommodating the place of action (even visually - in L.A. even the buildings appear to be candy-flavored, while in Helsinki the city is cold, drab, yet hopeful) and it all comes together to this huge picture, which reminds us that we are all different but all live on the same planet and know similar things about life, death and everything in-between. I wonder what this movie would have been like, if Jarmusch had also considered taxis in non-western countries.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who... Oh, blast! I recommend this movie to everyone.

Original, funny and tragic

[Apollo-14 · 8/10 · 3 June 1999]

Jim Jarmusch does an excellent job in creating character conflict and intriguing, realistic dialogue. But what I admire most in this movie are the opening scenes of every segment. He knows how to capture the essence of every city and how to establish mood. National Geographic has nothing over Jarmusch's photographic talent.

All segments are well written and tie in with the respective cities that are the back drop of the film: LA, NY, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. The Helsinki segment is the most depressing and it's kind of a bummer that the movie had to end on that note. The Paris segment steals the show. Incredible camera work and terrific dialogue.

Overall, the movie gave me a renewed appreciation for cinema. Thanks Jarmusch.

The good old world

[karl_consiglio · 9/10 · 7 November 2006]

Jim Jarmusch does for movies as Tom Waits does for music, no wonder he uses his music in his films. I've seen this movie over and over, its truly wonderful. We glimpse A side of the world that is the same no matter where you go. The world is round so no matter where you go you are always in the center of it. Here we catch a Taxi in different cities around the globe and although the cultures are clearly different , there is something of the blues in each act. I can't make out which one is my favorite, they all have a certain magic to them that totally captures to mood of the country we are in although the mood itself is that of the night where not much seems to be going on really except in our taxis. Each scene in this film is a masterpiece, no matter which country Jarmusch takes us too. Of course Benigni needless I mention is that little bit more of a of a superstar but for that matter so is the blind girl in Paris. Great music, great photography, great acting, its all good. Its magic!

One of My Favorite Films!!

[fpapp · 10/10 · 4 January 2003]

Since I have almost seventeen years of experience in the taxi business as a dispatcher and driver, I have to say that "Night on Earth" is one of my favorite movies! This movie gives a very real and comical portrayal of life in this line of work. I've known people who were given great opportunities, and rejected them. I've personally kicked drunk idiots out of my cab. I've had blind people tell me which route to take. I've had people who were so "down and out" tell me their life story. This is a film that portrays what taxi driving is all about, and it is not limited to the USA. People are the same all over the world! This movie is not yet available on DVD in the USA, but I really hope it will be soon!

Funny as hell

[pompaj · 5 November 2001]

It's not that this movie is non stop laughs, but just that it is so smart and such intelligent humor. It's got a clever premise about five short stories involving cab rides in different cities, but it's the specific situations that will crack you up. One after another, they are all hilarious. Roberto Benini's scene had me laughing out loud, and that never happens. The only sketch that wasnt so great was the opening one with Winona Ryder. Everything that followed it rocked and impressed the hell out of me. A smart comedy. not too many of those.

Jarmusch as humanist; one of the best films of 1991

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 15 January 2006]

Jim Jarmusch, a director who never neglects to find the time for the little moments, glances, exchanges in dialog, that bring out the better (or lesser) in people, puts his skills to full force in Night on Earth. Another in his several episodic-style films, this time he pushes forward his great use of pure conversational, and emotional, comedy, as well as drama. In fact, this may be one of the best from the 90's of that kind that came out (i.e. mixing comedy and drama to create some bittersweet vignettes). Inspiration of course pours out from European cinema, but even in the American segments there's a sense of genuine pathos with the characters. Sometimes one style was kept totally consistent, with all comedy in episode four or all tragedy in episode five, or the two styles went back and forth like in the first two. The third remains the more ambiguous, and maybe more uncomfortable, segment of the bunch, and even if it might be the lesser of them all it's still fascinating due to the actors.

But to get back to the humanism that comes on in the film, it's not something at all uncommon to Jarmusch's work. In Ghost Dog it goes a long way to help us not be too left out of the world of Whitaker's character, or it makes every lady seem all the more odd and unique in Broken Flowers. Here since it is met with a more realistic approach, with situations that could be happening right now at night in these cities, I'm almost reminded of Renoir. Particularly in the second segment in New York, where there's the perfect divide between lightness and over-the-top- lightness being in Armin Mueller-Stahl's performance as Helmut (German ex-clown turned un-knowing cabbie) and Giancarlo Esposito's performance as Yo-yo. Maybe it's because scenes like these usually wouldn't make it into 'mainstream' fare, but a sequence like this showcases some great dialog on both sides (and when Rosie Perez comes in, all bets are off). Stahl especially makes the scenes work in-particular as he almost seems to inhabit this person of an outsider in the (taken for granted) amazing space of NYC.

To say which one was my overall favorite might be a little picky, as every one of them had something to offer differently. There was the cute, and slightly awkward, scenes with Ryder and Rowlands (maybe one of Ryder's few gems in her career too, mostly based on style). The segment in Paris, again, may make one feel a little uncomfortable, but that might be the point. And I loved how Beatrice Dalle's role went effortlessly between the bizarre and the almost ironically compassionate. It's also the segment which provides a little extra bitter of a touch by way of the Ivory Coast cabbie, however it does come to pass as being about two outsiders thrust into a strange little moment in life. Roberto Benigni's segment was drop dead funny, which is surprising considering the hit or miss ways of Jarmusch's comedy. But Benigni is so outrageous in his long monologue its no wonder what becomes of his passenger. It's a terrific mix between Benigni's voracious style of fast (but not too fast) speech, and a sort of silent-film kind of comedy, likely out of Buster Keaton or something. And all of this is accentuated by a carefully controlled mis en scene of driving (which is always visually endearing), where right when you're expecting there to be a cut it waits one or two extra seconds. It's a film with a sweet rhythm that doesn't drag like in Jarmusch at his worst.

The last segment, oddly enough, could be a downer for some. It was for me, until I decided to watch it a second time. This combines the frustration seen in bits in the other segments regarding a city life that bogs down on its inhabitants, and the sympathy that can come out even behind the tough veneer of lives lived with a shell protecting them from idiots. When it comes time for Matti Pellonpaa's monologue, it makes for the most touching, and a close-call for most emotionally striking, thing Jarmusch has ever written, put together by his portrayal. What's interesting even more so is how the film, despite this bleak story, doesn't seem to end too much on that note, due to the last little bit between Mika and Avi, the drunk passenger. In fact, after watching this a second time, I got to get the sense of what the film might be about- getting past that separation between a driver doing his job and a passenger with their own issues. It's also a small ruby of a communication fable, of how lives in different cities and countries may be of course different in speech and attitude and dress, but have similar plights to deal with in the dead of night.

7/10

[desperateliving · 7/10 · 2 August 2004]

In terms of perspective on life, these comic-philosophic taxi rides may be the most uplifting scenes in Jarmusch's oeuvre. The first of five segments (in L.A.) deals with Winona Ryder (in a broad, self-conscious performance) as a cab driver who picks up Gena Rowlands, who wants to put her in a movie. Rowlands is subtle and complex: she's a rich bitch with a soft side, but we don't know if she's the former because she's a player or if she's the latter because she wants to use Ryder. What Jarmusch is going for is to contrast the social classes -- he has an obvious, unfunny line where Ryder's character says she's never been to the executive terminal at the airport before -- but what's really interesting is seeing, since Jarmusch is usually a male-oriented director, how he handles women (one a tomboy, one in a position of power).

It's obvious that the little idea of a movie about four taxi cab drivers is just a thin story that gives Jarmusch an excuse to work with certain actors, like Rowlands, whose late, great husband he adores. He goes for cultural miscommunication in the New York story (which is the film's most tender and brotherly), the warring cultures within a city, where a black man (Giancarlo Esposito) who can't land a cab fights with his Puerto Rican girlfriend while being badly driven around by former circus clown (Armin Mueller-Stahl, in a goofy, charming performance). Jarmusch makes brilliant statements on race and color in the Paris segment, with a sassy blind woman who's aware of what her driver is thinking of her -- and who turns our expectations on their head twice, without coming back to where we started. Benigni, who doesn't play the clown, is nevertheless the funniest in the Rome ride: he talks aloud to himself and outdoes and predates "American Pie" by almost a decade. The final, Helsinki section is the most powerful. When the cabbie tries to one-up the sob story by one of his three passengers, the conclusion seems to be that he wins; the two conscious passengers seem to think their unconscious friend's troubles are insignificant, as if they can't both be sad. 7/10

The most under-rated film in history!

[dominic-lynch-1 · 10/10 · 18 September 2006]

No one I ever mention this film to has heard of it, let alone seen it! I actually tried to see Thelma and Louise at the cinema when Night on Earth came out, but as it was sold out, I saw this instead - what a lucky break! The film is actually 5 short films of around twenty minutes, each one a taxi journey, taking place at the exact same moment in 5 cities across the world, from LA to Helsinki, via New York, Paris and Rome.

Without ruining the surprises contained (its unexpectedness is one of its delights) the film covers numerous emotions. At times it is utterly hilarious, at others it's sad and moving. It is pacy and yet considered, the characters are well painted, both by the writing and the acting, and the story lines engrossing yet punchy. There are some sub-titles, by the way, but please don't let that put you off. It's not one of those intellectual "aren't I clever" films.

If you like your films classy, well written, well acted, intelligent, thought provoking yet accessible, and with a great soundtrack (Tom Waits), then Night on Earth is for you! Share it!

A collection of vignettes, five taxi rides in five cities of the US and Europe, mixing drama and comedy

[crculver · 7/10 · 10 May 2015]

NIGHT ON EARTH (1991), the fourth film by American auteur Jim Jarmusch, is a series of vignettes centered around taxi journeys in the US and Europe over a single winter night. There is no overarching plot, but rather each segment is a study in interaction between the driver and his fare.

In Los Angeles, Winona Ryder is a 16-year-old tomboy taxi driver and Gena Rowland is a Hollywood casting agent. In New York, Armin Mueller-Stahl is an immigrant from East Germany who gets a crash course on American culture after he takes Giancarlo Esposito and Rosie Perez to Brooklyn. Crossing the Atlantic, we first go to Paris where Isaac de Bankole, an Ivorian immigrant who faces the challenge of racism daily, picks up blind woman Béatrice Dalle who could care less what colour his skin is.

The last two segments are less about class or race and more humorous and individual. In Rome, Roberto Benigni finds an opportunity to confess a long list of sins after he picks up priest Paolo Bonacelli. This is a hilarious scene, the most extreme part of the film. In Helsinki, Matti Pellonpää brings three drunks home (Kari Väänänen, Sakari Kuosmanen, and Tomi Salmela), but after they bemoan their misfortune, he tells them what real suffering is.

NIGHT ON EARTH continues the characteristic choice of scenery that Jarmusch offered in his films to date. When so much cinema depicts the US as so many ritzy places and historical landmarks, Jarmusch instead offers vacant lots, dilapidated buildings, and businesses that have long since gone out of business. In Paris, Rome, and Helsinki he also offers nondescript, industrial or residential areas, quite deserted because it is the dead of night.

This isn't a flawless film. The opening bit with Winona Ryder feels overacted. The Paris segment is nothing but clichés about how the blind might not see, but their other senses are more powerful than the sighted. The New York and Helsinki segments are homages to Jarmusch's peers Spike Lee and Aki Kaurismaki respectively, using their settings and borrowing some of their actors. While the New York scene has Jarmusch's characteristic humour, Jarmusch's style is almost completely effaced in the Helsinki scene and one could believe he's watching a Kaurismaki film.

Nonetheless, this is a very enjoyable film. Virtually all audiences will enjoy Benigni's wacky comedy, and I've come to appreciate Matti Pellonpää's acting even more. I've seen NIGHT ON EARTH several times, and I've always found it to have re-watch value.

5 little stories, 5 cities, 4 languages - surprising

[Mort-31 · 8/10 · 6 January 2002]

A fantastic piece of entertainment: five little stories, five cities, four languages. That's all. This movie has no message but it portrays five regions of the world most sensitively.

The L.A. episode is the weakest. It is not bad but it has one big problem: it is the first one. People start watching the movie and expect something sensational. This first episode cannot present anything spectacular, only first class character acting. There are no big surprises or twists, the episode is not particularly funny or anything. Honestly, when I saw the first minutes of this movie I thought: `O dear, I'm going to fall asleep!'

Then, the N.Y. story came. This one made me laugh real hard, and it made Armin Mueller Stahl one of my favourite actors. I started to love this movie, and I was well prepared for the Paris episode, which is, in my opinion the best, the most satisfying of them.

I found the story of the Roberto Benigni episode rather stupid, but his talent in exaggerating (so he did this even seven years before 1999's Oscar ceremony!) made up for it.

Then, the huge contrast: The liveliest episode is followed by the dreariest. Finnish workers tell each other stories from their lives, each trying to tell the saddest.

`Night on Earth' is not a movie for everybody but I think it is, in any case, the ideal movie to watch on television at two o'clock in the morning.

Better Than Average Comedy - Night on Earth

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 23 February 2021]

This is a pleasant cab ride from LA to Helsinki. The comedy is uneven at times, but the Italy segment is the best. The LA segment is also very good. The other three segments; New York, Paris and Helsinki are uneven at best. I found the New York segment to be the least believable and funny as well. It is a pleasant way to spend and hour and a half for a date movie. Enjoy.

What a night!

[AhmedSpielberg99 · 8/10 · 23 July 2021]

I think whenever you crave a late night out but can't get out of your bed you'd better watch a Jarmusch film instead while lying on your bed under a blanket with a big cup of tea in your hand. The common element that can be traced in all of his films is that he captures these laid-back vibes of such nights to a tee. In Night on Earth, we see nocturnal cityscapes of gloomy, empty streets before getting in a taxi with eccentric yet amicable strangers of different cultures, ceaselessly chatting over trifles of otherwise moral value, all while the tires humming over the asphalt roads and the cool, fresh night air tapping on the car windows. This is basically the whole movie!

The five-segment anthology takes place inside taxi cabs across five different cities on the same titular night. The first one is set in Los Angeles, and features a chain-smoking, gum-chewing, tomboyish taxi driver (Winona Ryder) and a classy casting agent in Hollywood (Gena Rowlands). This is probably my favourite out of all the five vignettes next to the second one, which takes place in New York where a German cabdriver (Armin Mueller-Stahl), with a background that remains ambiguous, is lost in a city and culture he doesn't understand. This one genuinely got a few chuckles out of me. The third episode, that's in Paris, is relatively a bit heavier on its message but is more than made up for it thanks to a brilliant Beatrice Dalle as a woman with hyper-acute senses compensating her lack of sight. In the fourth one, which takes place in Rome, we witness Roberto Benigni being Roberto Benigni as he confesses his sins to a priest (Paolo Bonacelli). The final one taking place in Helsinki is by miles the bleakest of them, imbued with a deadpan undertone but suffused in a sorrowful and grieving tone.

Jim Jarmusch values the brief, ephemeral encounters of people who had never met before, and likely would never meet again. People of nature peculiar to yours but actually quite normal once you get to know them. It's all about everyone's own attitude to life; everyone's priorities shaped by their own environment or according to their life path of their own choosing. And without Jarmusch's signature languorous aura that ties up all the segments together and casts a magical spell on the mundane to turn it to something rather celestial, this night on earth would've been a lackadaisical one with nothing memorable.

Five Short Stories in the World

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 8 July 2018]

During one night, taxi drivers in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki interact with their passengers while driving them to their destination.

"Night on Earth" is a collection of five short stories with different genres, from comedy to drama, taking place in taxis along the same night. The storyline is absolutely original and supported by great international cast. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Noite Sobre a Terra" ("One Night on Earth")

Overrated for being cult!

[AmigaJay · 4/10 · 16 August 2022]

A strange collection of shorts rolled into one movie with the connection being a Taxi, not the best premise for a film especially as that's the only link between them.

I enjoyed this more when i was in my teens, i can't think why, other than a few amusing moments in New York which was probably down to the amount of swearing in it than the movie, which just falls flat with most of the other characters, leaving the non-existent story exposed.

As much as i love Winona Ryder, she is totally miscast here and her character as a taxi driver is unbelievable as her fake accent.

I'd rather watch a go-pro Taxi video on Youtube then have to rewatch this again!

4/10 - mainly for the cinematography.

I wish to Marry that Blind Lady , Facinating work of Jim Jarmusch , This Movie is my All Time Favorite ( French A+ Movie) My Ratings 10/10

[THE-BEACON-OF-MOVIES-RAFA · 10/10 · 17 March 2020]

Excellent movie 'composed' by Jim Jarmusch. I absolutely love everything about it, from excellent soundtrack by Tom Waits to beautiful city scenes that make my wanna sit & gaze for hours. A wonderful examination of human interaction, hilarious, melancholy, and everything in between. Jarmusch is a master at his craft.

each vignette good in a different way

[KFL · 8/10 · 29 April 1999]

I suppose people will typically talk about they loved the NY and Rome stories, but hated the Helsinki segment, or vice-versa, or whatever. This probably comes from thinking of the entire movie as belonging to a single genre--drama, comedy, satire. If you take each story by itself, though, with an open mind, you will find yourself being entertained (mostly) in five different ways. Although of course we will all have our favorites.

I wondered briefly why there wasn't a segment set in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan--to make it truly global. Of course it wouldn't be night at the same time on that side of the world. Jarmusch should have done it anyway.

Some think the movie is too long. But this is obviously a movie you don't need to watch in a single sitting; indeed, for the reason stated above, it's perhaps best watched a little at a time.

Five Beautiful Stories

[moviefreakgirl · 24 December 2006]

This is a truly amazing movie which I love. It has five different stories, each on a different city, with very different people, but all in a taxi. All the people are very different, with different background, ambitions, culture and personality, but in the end, so similar. I loved every part of it, some of them are very funny, others touching, depressing, heartbreaking, enjoyable or simply beautiful. They are all wonderful portraits of the city in which they happen. They don't show touristic locations, but how the cities really are and how people behave and think. Every story is well told, with great pace, amazing, believable dialogs and realistic characters that you get to know very well in little time. They work both together and alone. They're all great and I can't choose my favorite.

In the first segment, a young tomboy taxi driver meets a wealthy talent seeker, who wants to cast her in a movie. In New York, an afro American meets an immigrant, his cab driver, lost in the city. In Paris, a blind girl takes a ride with an irritable cab driver from the Ivory Coast and they talk about life and blindness. In Rome, a cab driver picks up a priest and starts confessing, and in Helsinki a miserable driver picks up three drunks and they speak about the most depressing things that ever happened to them.

The direction is amazing in all its simplicity. The camera angles are steady, usually focusing no the actors and allowing you to concentrate on the dialogs.But there are some that show the city, the cars passing, the buildings, lovers in the middle of the night, junkies, etc, and these have unusual quality.

The acting is great by everyone. Winona Ryder, frequently criticized, is in my opinion very funny and totally different from her other roles. I really enjoyed her acting. Gena Rowlands plays her "opposite" in a nice, underacting way. Armin Mueller-Stahl is very touching and expressive (the moment he says he was a clown is very beautiful), with an amazing use of his eyes. Giancarlo Esposito and Jennifer Perez are fun to watch, too. Béatrice Dalle is incredibly charismatic and believable as a blind young woman, and Isaach De Bankolé is good. Roberto Benigni is about as hilarious as you can get, in his one man show. His speech is obviously very funny, but Benigni makes it mind blowing. Some will hate it, though I couldn't stop laughing. Matti Pellonpää delivers his speech in a dramatic, depressive way but without overacting.

The cinematography and the music are beautiful, make this movie feel nostalgic and help linking the segments. This is a very original, worthwhile movie.

Worldwide Character Study

[gcd70 · 6/10 · 11 October 2007]

Interesting and different film about five separate taxi rides in five major cities around the world on the same night. The film is a successful look not only at the heart of the cities themselves, it is a study of characters and of short term relationships.

Shot in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki, each segment is about twenty-five minutes long and features a different theme each time. Audiences will find the comical New York segment very funny, whilst the Paris and Rome pieces are also good for a laugh. The opening Los Angeles sequence is entertaining too, featuring impressive performances from Gena Rowlands and Winona Ryder. Sadly the closing Helsinki segment is disappointing. Jarmusch's attempt at an uplifting finale does not come off, and his audience may leave the cinema uninspired.

"Night on Earth" remains a great character study though, as well as being a genuine look at the real side of the towns represented. PS Look for Beatrice Dalle as a blind French girl. Very impressive.

Friday, September 11, 1992 - Valhalla Cinema

Original, interesting and wonderfully warm and engaging

[grantss · 8/10 · 7 June 2020]

One night, five cities, five taxis. Five short stories set in Los Angles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki involving taxi drivers, their customers, new connections made, lessons learned, opportunities and pain.

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, Night on Earth is a collection of five short stories with the link being that almost the entire story plays out in taxi with the main character being the taxi driver. The five stories occur roughly simultaneously in five different cities across the globe on the same night. Highly original in concept and setting.

Each story is wonderfully crafted by Jarmusch, with interesting, engaging characters and great interplay between the driver and their customers. There's also some interesting, edifying themes to the stories, presented in a subtle, non-confrontational way. Each story gives us different types of characters and different tones (and apart from Los Angeles vs New York, different languages!).

Cast is filled with big names - Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Rosie Perez, Roberto Benigni, Beatrice Dalle - and nobody puts a foot wrong. Other than Gena Rowlands, none of these were huge stars yet, so Jarmusch certainly had an eye for emerging talent. The stand-outs are Winona Ryder as the rough, tomboyish Corky and Roberto Benigni as the hilariously funny Italian driver.

Great film.

"At least I can still smoke in my own cab."

[DennisLittrell · 6/10 · 28 February 2002]

No, this is not a posted sign in the film. The tobacco companies tried to include it, but Director Jim Jarmusch had too much integrity to allow it. But what could be a more natural setting for sucking on the killer weed than the inside of a taxi cab? Here we've got five of them. The tobacco companies saw the script and fronted mass bucks, or actually in this case, for a small Indie episodic venture by a director without a commercial hit to his credit, they fronted small bucks and sent an accountant. Anyway, this is a collection of five short stories filmed at night in five cities, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. In the first, Winona Ryder is an L.A. cabby looking like a ninth-grade grunge girl with her own sweet dreams who picks up Hollywood casting director Gena Rowlands at LAX and takes her to Beverly Hills. It's a cute idea, their bonding, but Ryder is without subtlety and clichéd to the hilt in dark glasses, bubble gum, baseball cap on backwards, and the endless puffing, talking sarcastically out of the side of her mouth: "All right, MOM." I actually expected some Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in the background. Rowland is very good however and overcomes a cloying script. In New York, veteran German character actor Armin Mueller-Stahl, looking for all the world like a dead ringer for Albert Einstein, is the cabby, Helmut, and Giancarlo Esposito is Yoyo, his fare. Problem is Helmut drives with one foot on the gas pedal and the other on the brake so that the cab starts and stops every two seconds. So they switch positions. Meanwhile Rosie Perez arrives for a cameo. In Paris, Isaach De Bankolé is the cabby and blind Béatrice Dalle, in white zombie contact lenses, is his fare. This is perhaps the best piece. Bankolé, who is a black dude from the Ivory Coast, asks her kindly, "Don't blind people usually wear dark glasses?" She has the great rejoinder, "Do they? I've never seen a blind person." Roberto Benigni is the cabby in Rome. He picks up a priest and to the priest's great discomfort confesses in vivid detail his rather revolting sexual experiences. Finally in Helsinki we have Matti Pellonpää as the "taksi" driver. The stark lighting on the snow and the empty streets captures well the cold northern night. Incidentally, the European stories are done in the local language with subtitles. This is obviously an art film and requires a relatively sophisticated audience. The editing isn't sharp (some of that's deliberate) and the dialogue is uneven, but some of the camera work is excellent. See it for the acting, which is mostly very good.

The best film of Jim Jarmusch

[RainDogJr · 10/10 · 6 March 2007]

For me this film is the best of Jarmusch and one of my favorites films ever. The reason is simple: Is original, yes this film is one of the most originals films in a lot of years, the five stories, the five different cities and is all only in one night, for me that is awesome and excellent because Jarmusch is the only filmmaker that could do that. About the film: well my favorite story is the one with Roberto Benigni that takes place in Rome, the reason is Benigni, because for me this is the funniest performance of Benigni and well the story is great, the part when Benigni tell his story about the sheep is just very funny and of course the other five stories are great. The other story that i loved is the one that takes place in New York with "Helmut" is very funny and i think that Jarmusch want that: funny and great stories with a message like the message in the one that takes place in Paris, whit the blind girl and the taxi driver. Well this all i can say about a great film and well i have to say that hope that you can see this film and enjoy Roberto Benigni, Winona Ryder and more (yes the cast is great). Night on earth: 10 Roberto Benigni: 10

5 episodes of which I liked only 1

[DonAndre · 7/10 · 17 February 2002]

The first episode (Los Angeles) was the most boring. It had absolutely nothing to offer that was entertaining and I felt the actors didnt play very well too. Sometimes it looked more like a play than a movie. Also I found Winona Ryder exaggerated her character too much. But luckily after the LA episode came the NY episode which was the best overall. Very funny and the characters played very well too. Really gave me a good laugh. The Paris episode, well it wasnt that great overall. The Rome episode then again was a bit better featuring Roberto Benigni as the Taxi driver. Very good actor! The last episode played in Helsinki and tried to be dramatic though for me it failed as you cannot feel so much for characters you hardly know about. Besides the plot the movie featured some really great scenes and I liked the fact that everyone spoke their native tongue (the french taxi driver spoke french,...).

Beautiful, captivating and a great journey among the quest of human struggles.

[thedarkhorizon · 9/10 · 7 December 2020]

I was intrigued by the strong captivating energy of the characters and especially the use of (joyful) music along the ride. It FELT like we're with them in the cab, listening to their struggles and staring at each other through the rear view mirror to find out more about them. Each section with a vibe and magic on its own... and I was happy to see five different city scapes riding by the window...just like we're there, in summer, autumn and spring and winter... curious things happen in the night! Sure, some elements seem overly exaggerated (like an italian couple making out twice in the Rome part... what a clichee!), but it still felt like additions to the phantastical and humorous vibes. A timeless movie that still captivates the struggles of humanity and teaches us countless lessons. A film to be watched over and over, ageless, timeless, endless.

Jim Jarmusch: The Ultimate Independent

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 19 May 2015]

An anthology of five different cab drivers in five American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

Jim Jarmusch is pretty much the ultimate in independent filmmakers. He has this interesting quality about him, where he has continued to make great films over the last couple decades, has worked with everyone you could ever want to work with, and still maintains a status that is slightly shy of mainstream. The average film watcher would not know his name or almost any of his movies, but the more discriminate film lover would go out of their way to see them all.

This is a great film in that it is just so simple. Most of the movie is nothing more than a cab driver and their fare having a conversation. Sometimes this is all you need to make a great picture, just a well-written script.

Contrivance for Hire...

[Xstal · 5/10 · 16 October 2020]

It's a shame these vignettes didn't take place in the more diverse and less westernised parts of the world, where you might have been a bit more sympathetic to the passengers and/or drivers predicaments - an opportunity missed. The Rome tale with Benigni was ludicrous although if we had seen the drugs he was on before the piece it might have made more sense. Not sure any of them provided any actual value or insight grounded in the real world but, they were all competently performed, excepting the dead priest who clearly couldn't play dead. Bring on driverless cars!