Rating:  -
If there is a "sleeper" in the Jarmusch catalog, it would have to his ode to taxi drivers, "Night on Earth".The film is framed by a structural device that Jarmusch previously utilized in his 1989 film "Mystery Train"; it is a collection of loosely connected vignettes that all take place in the course of one evening. Instead of taking place in one location, however, "Night on Earth" is spread out over five cities and two continents.
The film gets off to a shaky start in Los Angeles, with a relatively flat segment. Wynona Rider plays an outspoken, gum cracking cabbie who picks up a fare at the airport (Gena Rowlands) who turns out to be a Hollywood casting director (er-guess what happens). It's worth sitting through just to see these two interesting actresses working together, if nothing else.
Don't let the bland appetizer put you off, however, because things improve rapidly with the second vignette. Spike Lee regulars Giancarlo Esposito and Rosie Perez hitch a ride to Brooklyn with an amiable German cabbie (Armin Mueller-Stahl) whose driving skills (and sense of NYC geography) are marginal at best. Jamusch milks maximum laughs out of the cross-cultural pollination that ensues (a recurring theme in his films).
Next, we jump the pond over to Paris, where an African immigrant cab driver (Isaach De Bankole) has endured a long night of racist insults and obnoxious passengers. He spots a blind woman (Beatrice Dalle, who dazzled in one of my favorite French films, "Betty Blue") and offers her a ride, thinking "at least she won't cause me any trouble". Naturally, he's wrong! A clever parable about stereotyping.
Comic actor Roberto Benigni takes the driver's seat as the story moves to Rome. Veteran character actor Paolo Bonacelli (you may recall his memorable turn as Brad Davis' arch-nemesis, the creepy jailhouse toady in "Midnight Express") plays a priest who is in for the shock of his life after getting into Benigni's cab. Bonacelli, an actor with a marvelously expressive face, is a joy to watch as he registers steadily increasing horror while Benigni cheerfully and matter-of-factly recounts a lifetime's list of "sins" in an unsolicited taxicab Confession that gets exponentially funnier along with the steadily escalating depravity of the acts being described. It's hilarious.
The final segment makes for a bittersweet dessert. Jarmusch pays homage to his favorite director, Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki (I loved his 2002 film "The Man Without a Past"-a real gem). A Helsinki cab driver (Matti Pellonpa) picks up a trio of working stiffs who are stumbling home after a long night of drinking. The vignette is alternately sad and darkly funny as passengers and driver compete to top each other's sob story in order to establish which one of them is leading the most depressing and miserable existence(some form of traditional Finnish male bonding?). Three of the actors in the piece are Kaurismaki regulars.
Overall, "Night on Earth" achieves a satisfying synchronicity as a thoughtful meditation on certain universal truths that govern the human condition, regardless of cultural orientation or geographical location (and delivers it in a much more entertaining and less heavy handed manner than the recent spate of dreary, overrated, self-important "message" films like "21 Grams", "Babel" and the particularly execrable "Crash").
Rating:  -
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film
"Night on Earth" is five seperate plotlines each taking place in a taxi in a different city. The cities are Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, and Helskini. The native language of each city is spoken for each segment.
The film is a comedy although is very risqué in the Rome segment.
In the Los Angeles segment the driver (Winona Ryder) picks up a casting agent, in New York the driver can't drive the taxi well so the patron drives, in the Paris segment the driver picks up a blind woman, in the Rome segment the driver (Roberto Begnini) picks up a priest. In the Helsinki segment the driver picks up three men one of whom is dead drunk and being escorted home.
The risqué segment in the Rome segment involves the driver confessing his sins to the priest in which he graphically describes his sexual escapades. The priest is such shock that he franticallly tries to retrieve his nitro pills but drops them and has a heart attack.
The concept of this film is very unique and I would like to see more films like this.
Rating: -
Jim Jarmusch began the 1990s with Night on Earth and would go on to produce some of his strongest work with Dead Man and Ghost Dog. However, these two films don't quite have the warmth and the humanity abundant in Night on Earth. While he does avoid major Hollywood studios, Jarmusch has no problem collaborating with well known actors. His first experiment was with this film, which featured famous movie stars, Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, and Rosie Perez. Jarmusch returned to the structure he used so well in Mystery Train, but expanded its scope. Night on Earth is broken up into five stories that all occur at the same time but in different cities all over the world with the action restricted to taxi cab rides. Jarmusch uses these encounters as springboards for interesting, often hilarious, sometimes tragic discussions ranging from acting in movies to circus clowns to inappropriate acts with farm animals.
After Night on Earth, Jarmusch's methodically paced, dry-witted comedies were no longer en vogue, only to be replaced by a louder, flashier wave of new filmmakers with overt pop culture sensibilities. This film manages to avoid the hackneyed cliché of the world weary cabbie to present touching insights into the human condition with situations that run the entire emotional spectrum.
"Q&A with Jim" features Jarmusch answering questions submitted by fans from all over the world (this was also done on the Down By Law DVD). Among the highlights include him telling an anecdote about a scary moment during the filming in Helsinki. Jarmusch talks about his movie-watching habits and about how he works with actors.
"Alice: Magazine Europeen" is a brief interview with Jarmusch on Belgian television in 1992. The interview mostly takes place in the back of a moving car as the filmmaker talks about the origins of his film.
Finally, there is an audio commentary by the film's director of photography Frederick Elmes and sound mixer Drew Kunin. The two men talk about the challenge of moving from city to city and how they had to train a new crew in every place. Elmes and Kunin recount many filming anecdotes, like how no actual cabs would stop for Giancarlo Esposito in the NY segment. They provide fascinating insight into making an independent film all over the world.
Rating:  -
So it only took 16 years for it's first USA release on DVD, but I think it will be worth the wait. I only recently parted with my VHS copy of this film when Criterion announced it's release. While obviously I've not seen the release, there is no reason Criterion will disappoint. For those who haven't seen the film (and I've met dozens of people who still haven't) I believe it to be Jarmusch's best for many reasons.
With five stories (five cabs, five drivers, five cities in the world), all occurring simultaneously, it examines Jarmusch's fascination with the crossing and meeting of cultures and classes. The film is jammed packed with humor, pathos, sadness, thought provoking stories of people that you actually care about after only 20 minutes and so much more. Tom Waits (a regular contributor to the work of Jarmusch) does not appear in the film, but wrote the soundtrack instead (so in some ways is in the entire film!). I would have loved to have seen a 6th story with Waits as the cabbie!!
Every actor is awesome, some giving a career highlight performance, including Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Roberto Benigni (who was mostly unknown at the time), and several European actors that I've never seen elsewhere, but have never forgotten all these years later.
It's hard for me to pick a favorite story, because like a great short story collection, my favorite keeps changing. The Italian story (with Benigni) is the slightest story with none of the serious subtext the other stories have, but it is also the funniest, so it's hard not to love it. Benigni, for me, has never been better.
The final story is almost "too" sad, with almost no humor, but the silence, the snow, the heartbreaking story that the cab driver tells, seems to transcend the sadness that shrouds the scene (I could definitely see Bergman doing this story).
The first story is great, with our notions of these two great actresses (Rowlands and Ryder) turned upside down. Who is vulnerable? Who is charge of their life? Who is truly happy? I'm not sure Jarumsch has ever been called a "feminist", but these two women are strong, smart, funny and I can't think of a female writer/director that has written two better characters? I might have to pick this as my favorite on most of my dozen viewings, but each story has something unique to offer.
For those who have seen Jarmusch's latest films (Broken Flowers and Coffee & Cigarettes), this one is closer to the latter film, but far surpasses it. While the five stories are diverse (of location, language, style), they are held together with Waits slippery and mysterious music, the passing landscapes outside the taxi cab's windows, and Jarmusch's themes of alienation, existentialism and the basic goodness of people trying to relate to each other even when the odds are against it.
For those who haven't seen this film the wait is, thankfully, almost over. Thank you Criterion!
Rating: -
This movie is a strange melange of several stories that take place in a taxi cab over the course of 24 hours
around the world. The first is with Gena Rowlands and Winona Ryder... a bit uncomfortable as the previous reviewer said.. but appropriate to the subject. Each story has a bit of pathos as with Paris & Helsinki, or a bit of over the top humor as with the stories in New York and Italy. If you are a Jim Jarmusch, or Roberto Begnini fan.. you will enjoy this. If you go for more "conservative" types of movies steer clear.. this is a cavalcade of black humor mixed in with some very touching moments. Particularly Helsinki.... a quiet but thoughful ending to this Fellini-esque romp across the globe. If you have a soft spot for the rude and ridiculous bordering on the incomprehensible this is the one for you. I've been waiting for this movie to come out on DVD since I first saw it in the 1990s. It's one I will enjoy seeing over and over. Foul language may repel some viewers, but for those who are not squeemish... this is a masterpiece that wacks you across the head then waits for you to laugh.
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