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ASIN : 6303614353
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Editorial Reviews
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Jim Jarmusch's 1991 ensemble comedy turns a gimmick into a revelation. The story begins in Los Angeles one evening at 7:07 p.m. A talent agent (Gena Rowlands) gets into the back of a taxi driven by a sullen, chain-smoking young woman (Winona Ryder), and over the course of their bumpy conversation, Rowlands's character becomes convinced that the cabby would be perfect for a particular part in a movie. Meanwhile, at that very moment, taxi drivers in New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki are all having unique encounters with a variety of fares, breaking through that invisible social barrier between the front and back seats of their cars, often to absurd or touching effect. Among them are cabby Roberto Benigni's ranting confessions to a priest, Armin Mueller-Stahl's relinquishing of the wheel to a stunned Giancarlo Esposito, and Isaach De Bankolé's relentless discussion of sight and sex with an angry, blind woman (Beatrice Dalle). What emerges is a chain of brief intimacies (not always welcomed by the characters), like a number of matches lit simultaneously across the globe, flickering brightly for a few short moments. This popular work by Jarmusch helped confirm his reputation as a fiercely independent filmmaker of rare perception, rigor, and classical sensibility matched with original thinking. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
"Night on Earth" provides you both comedy and drama (2007-06-25)  Being that this film was recommended to me, I have never seen a film directed by Jim Jarmusch and this was a good place to start. "Night on Earth" contains 5 stories mostly happening inside a taxi cab located in 5 different cities spanning between 30-40min long. The cab rides in this film take place at approximately the same time, but the stories couldn't be more different. The lighter conversations take place in the first few segments and as we enter the smaller hours of the morning, the conversations become a little heavier. I enjoyed this film a lot coming from the first segment in L.A. to the final segment in Helsinki. Three of the five segments are not in English and it would be a shame if you bypass this film because of it. The characters are all truly amazing, in some films it takes virtually the whole dramatization to attain the feeling that you familiarized with the characters, in one way or the other. In some films, you never even come close to such an accomplishment. But in this one, however, you merely need a brief cab ride to really feel the presence and the acquaintance. Apart from enjoying all the cab rides, I exceptionally laughed and yet sincerely fathomed the tragedy of the New York ride. The situation Helmut, a German immigrant, finds himself in is really sorrowful, as it is very comical as well. For a reason beyond comprehension he has though his bad English and very severe driving accomplished to obtain a taxi driver card in a city he practically doesn't know the name of. Somewhat accidentally he managed to pick up Yo-Yo, an energetic, talkative & very amusing New Yorker. Two greatly distinct cultures persuaded to make conversation is extremely charming, interesting & humorous, though they can hardly understand each others nature they still manage to somewhat interpret each other in a very abstruse way. The Paris chapter concentrates on a black cab driver who is made fun of by foreign (and also black) dignitaries. He is proud, until later he finds a cynical blind woman and he becomes curious about her. It's not extraordinary but it clearly held my interest. Rome is a straight out comedy that I could not stop laughing. Especially, Robert Benigni who speaks very quickly in this film acting absolutely perfect in Rome's story. His monologue to the priest in the back seat of the cab - even when read, not heard - is hysterically funny, with Benigni giving the perfect blend of absurdum and sincerity. You can't tell whether he is telling the truth or not. In Helsinki (Finland) you meet three drunks that get into a cab, one of whom has had the worst day imaginable. Then the cabbie tells a tale of his own, and it puts the unlucky drunk's problems in proper perspective that will deeply touch your heart. The least of my favorites would likely be the L.A. segment with Gena Rowlands and Winona Ryder because both of there performance seem wooden, force, and unconvincing to me. After you get through the rough patches of their segment the rest of the way is ridden smoothly. Other than that, "Night on Earth" is a nice collaboration of tragic & comic wrapped up in five different destinies, neither containing a beginning or a goal, merely an embracing of time, an embracing of life.
fun flick (2004-06-05) Watch this one with friends. The Italian part had me laughing so hard I hurt.
Oh. My. God. (2004-01-19)  If you haven't seen this 1991 classic comedy, see it now. The premise is that we follow events during one night in taxis in several places around the world: New York, LA, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The best, by far, the one I always think of first when someone mentions this incredibly funny and touching film, is the one set in Rome with Roberto Benigni as the taxi driver. He gives this rambling monologue sort of a confession about lambs and pumpkins and sex that you HAVE to see the movie to appreciate. There's a priest in the back seat getting more and more 'cardiac challenged' by the specific nature of this confession. It's a marvelous set piece, and I always rewind and watch that sequence at least 2-3 more times. It is just as funny on the 3rd viewing as it was on the first.Top notch.
A Great Night on Earth (2003-10-28) I watched this film late at night, when every sane person is supposed to be asleep, out of their cars and in their beds. Life still goes on, however, for the taxi-drivers who move people from one quiet location to another in the wee hours of the night. The locations are quiet, but the people are not, and the dialogue in this movie is humorous, meaningful, and real. A temporary bond is formed between passenger and driver (sometimes the roles are even reversed, as in the New York vignette featuring Helmut Grokenberger and YoYo, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl and Giancarlo Esposito, respectively). Armin Mueller-Stahl, born in 1930, may be relatively unknown to American audiences (as opposed to, say, Rosie Perez), but he did play Vertikoff in the George Clooney flick "The Peacemaker" (1997). Who is the stranger at the wheel who is responsible for bringing one home? What kind of person drives late at night, waiting for the dispatcher's call to a new address? A passenger has to pay him or her at the end of the ride, but there is still a feeling of gratitude, and even affection, towards this gruff conveyor of souls. "You're a good man, Mika," the half-drunk, initially hostile, Finnish workers tell their driver (played by Matti Pellonpää) at the end of their journey. Or a battle of wits takes place, as evidenced by the Paris vignette. Ivorian actor Isaach De Bankolé (who also appears in Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes") is great here as a luckless "taxiste" whose prying questions are turned against him by his blind passenger (played by Béatrice Dalle). Roberto Benigni is of course hilarious, and does here what he does best: rapid, hilarious dialogue with a lot of gesticulation and wide grins. He and the actor who plays the priest (not a bishop), Paolo Bonacelli, have been co-stars before: on the Benigni vehicle "Johnny Stecchino." I am really looking forward to the time when "Night on Earth" is made available on DVD.
Jarmusch's best?? (2003-04-14) A director like Jarmusch who has such a consistant and strong visual and thematic style will necessarily tend to draw either strongly positive or strongly negative responses. You either think he's the greatest or you think it's a bunch of junk. For my money he's one of the best. Always visually very fine, serious in his look at the modern world, and so often funny at the same time. In fact maybe it's just the combination of aesthetic and philosophical high seriousness with humor that makes much of his work so satisfying, and of course links him with his main, to my mind, counterparts the Coen brothers. Of course in saying this I immediately place myself as more a fan of Down By LAw, Mystery Train, and Night on EArth, than his other less comic films. Anyway, if I had to choose I'd take Night on Earth as the one I most enjoy. Like his other films it really repays viewing many times. When are they going to release the thing on DVD??
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