Night on Earth

1991
R
2h 9m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

68K

YOUR RATING

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99+ Photos

Dark Comedy Quirky Comedy Comedy Drama

An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.An anthology of 5 different cab drivers in 5 American and European cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

68K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The production hired a stunt driver to maneuver the tiny Fiat cab around a hairpin turn for one of the exterior shots in Rome. The turn was so tight that the stunt driver couldn't manage it, even after several takes. Roberto Benigni asked if he could try it and pulled it off perfectly on the first take.

Goofs
This film takes place sometime during the winter, and the opening story takes place in Los Angeles starting at 7:07 p.m. At no time during the winter would Los Angeles be this sunny at 7:07 p.m. The latest time of day the sun would set during the winter would be at 6:07 p.m. on March 20, the last day of winter. (March 20 now occurs during Daylight Saving Time, but, in 1991, DST did not begin until April.)

Quotes
Paris Driver: Don't blind people usually wear dark glasses?
Blind Woman: Do they? I've never seen a blind person.

Crazy credits
During the end credits, the titles of the crew members are in the language of the place/unit they worked in (ie the Helsinki unit's credits are in Finnish, and so on).

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Lethal Weapon 3/The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish/The Waterdance/Night on Earth/All the Vermeers in New York (1992)

Soundtracks
Back in the Good Old World
Written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
Produced by Tom Waits
Arranged by Tom Waits and Francis Thumm
Jalma Music, Inc.
Administered by Ackee Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
Tom Waits performs courtesy of Island Records, Inc.

User reviews132

Review

Featured review

8/10

Original, interesting and wonderfully warm and engaging

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.