Night on Earth (1991)

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

Director:

Jim Jarmusch

Writer:

Jim Jarmusch

Stars:

Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Lisanne Falk

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gena Rowlands	...	Victoria Snelling (segment "Los Angeles")
Winona Ryder	...	Corky (segment "Los Angeles")
Lisanne Falk	...	Rock Manager (segment "Los Angeles")
Alan Randolph Scott	...	Rock Musician #1 (segment "Los Angeles")
Anthony Portillo	...	Rock Musician #2 (segment "Los Angeles")
Armin Mueller-Stahl	...	Helmut (segment "New York")
Giancarlo Esposito	...	YoYo (segment "New York")
Rosie Perez	...	Angela (segment "New York")
Richard Boes	...	Cab Driver #1 (segment "New York")
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Driver (segment "Paris")
Béatrice Dalle	...	Blind Woman (segment "Paris")
Pascal N'Zonzi	...	Passenger #1 (segment "Paris") (as Pascal Nzonzi)
Emile Abossolo M'bo	...	Passenger #2 (as Émile Abossolo-M'bo)
Stéphane Boucher	...	Man in Accident (segment "Paris") (as Stephane Boucher)
Noel Kaufmann	...	Man on Motorcycle (segment "Paris")

Storyline

A collection of five stories involving cab drivers in five different cities. Los Angeles - A talent agent for the movies discovers her cab driver would be perfect to cast, but the cabbie is reluctant to give up her solid cab driver's career. New York - An immigrant cab driver is continually lost in a city and culture he doesn't understand. Paris - A blind girl takes a ride with a cab driver from the Ivory Coast and they talk about life and blindness. Rome - A gregarious cabbie picks up an ailing man and virtually talks him to death. Helsinki - an industrial worker gets laid off and he and his compatriots discuss the bleakness and unfairness of love and life and death.

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Plot Keywords:

taxi | episodic structure | immigration | night | anthology | 

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Taglines:

Five Taxis. Five Cities. One Night.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language, and some drug use

Details

Country:

France UK Germany USA Japan

Language:

English French Finnish Italian German

Release Date:

12 December 1991 (Germany)

Also Known As:

LANewYorkParisRomeHelsinki

Filming Locations:

Finland

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$34,039, 3 May 1992

Gross USA:

$2,015,810

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,023,808

Company Credits

Production Co:

Victor Company of Japan (JVC), Victor Musical Industries, Pyramide Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

You may all rest easy about Helmut's fate. Before he drops Yo-Yo and Angela off, he drives down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. In the last shot, though, he is driving up 4th Avenue toward the Williamsburg Bank clock (you can see it in the middle of the screen), so he is, indeed, going in the right direction to get back to Manhattan.

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Goofs

Cameras and studio lights are very visible in the sunglasses of the drivers in Los Angeles and Rome.

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Quotes

Angela: If you fuckin' stop talkin' to me then you won't have to hear my fuckin' mouth. So, why don't you just shut the fuck up and then I won't have to be talkin' all the time, you stupid idiot.

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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).

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Connections

Featured in Geiger, Gaukler, Gentleman (2001)

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Soundtracks

Summertime Blues
Performed by Blue Cheer
Written by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart
Courtesy of Polygram Special Products, A Division of Polygram Group Distribution, Inc.
Warner-Tamerlaine Publishing Corp. (BMI)

User Reviews

each vignette good in a different way

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.