| Night on Earth | |
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Film poster for Night on Earth |
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| Directed by | Jim Jarmusch |
| Produced by | Jim Jarmusch |
| Written by | Jim Jarmusch |
| Starring | Winona Ryder Béatrice Dalle Roberto Benigni Armin Mueller-Stahl Matti Pellonpää |
| Music by | Tom Waits |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Editing by | Jay Rabinowitz |
| Distributed by | Fine Line Features |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Running time | 129 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English German Italian French Finnish |
Night on Earth is a 1991 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.
It is a collection of five vignettes, which take place during the same evening, each concerning the temporary bond formed between taxi driver and passenger in five different cities around the world: Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The movie begins with the Los Angeles based segment and moves from city to city as the clock turns during the late hours of the night. Jarmusch wrote the screenplay for Night on Earth in about eight days, and the decision to film in certain cities was largely based on the actors with whom he wanted to work at the time.[1] The soundtrack, Night on Earth, is by Tom Waits.
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As evening falls, sassy tomboy cabby Corky (Winona Ryder) picks up hot-shot Hollywood executive Victoria Snelling (Gena Rowlands) from the airport, and as Corky drives, Victoria tries to conduct business over the phone. Despite their extreme differences socially, the two develop a certain connection. Sometime during the ride Victoria, who is evidently a talent scout or casting director, discovers that Corky would be ideal for a part in a movie she is casting, but Corky rejects the offer, as she has plans to become a mechanic.
Helmut Grokenberger (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a mild East German immigrant who was once a clown in his home country, now works in New York as a taxi driver. He picks up a passenger named YoYo (Giancarlo Esposito), a brash, streetwise young man and attempts to drive him to Brooklyn. Helmut doesn't really know how to drive with an automatic transmission so he allows YoYo to drive. On their way, they pick up YoYo's argumentative sister-in-law Angela (Rosie Perez). The story revolves around Helmut's attempts to understand and become a part of the culture of New York.
A blind woman (Béatrice Dalle) goes for a ride at night with a driver (Isaach De Bankolé) who hails from the Ivory Coast. They both take some verbal jabs at each other during the ride. The driver asks his passenger what it's like to be blind and she attempts to explain to him, but their cultural differences and differences of life experience make things difficult. An ironic twist at the end of the segment turns upon a French pun near the beginning of it: When the driver states his nationality as "Ivoirien," some other Africans mock him with the punning phrase "Y voit rien" (he sees nothing there). After he drops off his blind passenger, he feels fascinated by her and gazes in her direction. This inattention to driving causes him to crash into another car, whose driver angrily accuses him of being blind.
In the wee morning hours, a very eccentric cabbie (Roberto Benigni) picks up a priest (Paolo Bonacelli). As he drives, he starts to confess his sins. Much to the priest's discomfort, he goes into great detail about how he discovered his sexuality first with a pumpkin and then with a sheep, then details a love affair he had with his brother's wife. The already-ailing priest is shocked by the lurid confession, and promptly has a fatal heart attack, leaving the cabbie with a very troubling situation.
After an evening spent drinking heavily, three workers, one of whom has just been laid off (Kari Väänänen, Sakari Kuosmanen, and Tomi Salmela), climb into a cab to return home. On the way, the workers talk about what an awful fix their now-unconscious friend is in, by being out of work and having to face a divorce and a pregnant daughter. The driver, Mika (Matti Pellonpää), then tells them all the saddest story they have ever heard. The workers are terribly moved and depressed by the story, and even become unsympathetic toward their drunken, laid-off companion. As they arrive home, the sun is beginning to rise on a new day. But no one sees change in their stupering friend from his day to day life.
Until September 2007, Night on Earth was one of only two Jarmusch features not yet released on DVD in the United States (it had been previously released only in the UK). It was eventually released by the Criterion Collection on September 4, 2007.
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