‎Night on Earth (1991) directed by Jim Jarmusch • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Night on Earth

1991 Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Five Taxis. Five Cities. One Night.

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

Winona Ryder Gena Rowlands Lisanne Falk Alan Randolph Scott Anthony Portillo Giancarlo Esposito Armin Mueller-Stahl Rosie Perez Richard Boes Isaach De Bankolé Béatrice Dalle Pascal N'Zonzi Emile Abossolo M'bo Noel Kaufmann Stéphane Boucher Roberto Benigni Paolo Bonacelli Gianni Schettino Antonio Ragusa Nicola Facondo Camilla Begnoni Romolo Di Biasi Donatella Servadio Matti Pellonpää Kari Väänänen Sakari Kuosmanen Tomi Salmela Eija Vilpas Jaakko Talaskivi Show All… Klaus Heydemann

129 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Katie ★★★★½ 2

Winona Ryder, Date Me Please
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 18

10/10 for the Benigni sequence alone.
Review by Leo 🔥⬇🏠 ★★★★★ 7

The Ultimate Challenge - Film #2
Added to: People-being-People List

It's clear that I haven't watched enough Jarmusch yet. Night on Earth is one of the most enjoyable cinematic experiences I've ever had and that only comes from one thing: it's unbridled realism. Yes, there are some overtly expressive characters in here and some ridiculous cases of black humor but I feel (feel, as this is only my second Jarmusch) that this is exactly the thing that makes his films so worthwhile.

My only other experience with his cinema was his 2014 feature Only Lovers Left Alive, a bleak interpretation of the vampire myth, that lives on its humane undertone in these inexplicable creatures. With Night on Earth this is…
Review by Hollie Horror ★★★★★ 2

Night on Earth surpassed my expectations. I always love character studies and this is like having five, mini-character studies in one film. Each segment as good as the last.

We are taken to Los Angeles, NYC, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. Each story has it's own personality, much like the individual person driving the taxi, the individuals as passengers and the city themselves are given a perfect opportunity to show their individual personalities too, through the people who live and work there and not to mention the beautiful shots captured on film, city landscapes from the hood of the car and wide shots of the city itself.

Jim Jarmusch did a wonderful job filming each city too, the audience feels as…
Review by Varghese Eapen ★★★★½

Taxi #1 - Always follow your dreams

Taxi #2 - The Funniest of the 5.

Taxi #3 - Never Judge Others

Taxi #4 - Life is too short, so enjoy while you can!

Taxi #5 - Life can be cruel and unfair.
Review by CinemaShadow ★★★★

Using his typical comic-philosophical method, Jarmusch shows us how despite the differences in language, culture, geography and politics the humanity is the same world over. Jarmusch has explored this theme on other occasions as well but this feels like the most obvious representation of it. Watching it for the first time now also makes me wonder whether it led the way for the confessional hidden camera stuff that became popular many year ago. Anywho, this is a funny yet poignant journey with some great music, photography and performances.

Recent reviews

Review by Elyes ★★★

Recommended by nicole in the Metropolis roulette.

Like the other Jarmusch films which I've seen thus far, this has an appreciably comfortable rhythm and tone which I really enjoyed. It's light on its feet, and balances that line of feeling slight and profound pretty well. Unfortunately the anthology structure of this film only provided diminishing returns for me, with the first segment being my favorite and my interest slowly decreasing from there. The cast overall is quite strong, with everyone giving solid performances barring a couple of exceptions (Roberto Benigni was a little too grating for my taste). I don't really have much else to offer in terms of criticism, beside the fact that I didn't find this as captivating…
Review by vitória ★★★★

can i marry winona ryder please
Review by Bruce Clement ★★★★½

I watched this first many years ago when I was going into film school. I was a little worries going into a re-watch that I only pretended to love it back then because it was the hip thing to do. This has turned out not to be the case. This alternately hilarious and sad collection of simple, but thoughtful stories still stands up today. It manages to have a hipness to it, but not in an annoying way. I was also lucky to get to enjoy it on 35mm thanks to the royal cinema!
Review by NADA ★★★★★

جيم جارموش حبيبي ❤️️
Review by Artun ★★★★

It is difficult to make a movie about 5 cab drivers which will always be filmed in a taxi and make it exciting. This is Jim Jarmusch's script talent and how he manages to make the dailogues. It was a chill and enjoyable ride from Jim.
Review by ComfortablyDumb ★★★★★

Watched for the first time last night screened on 35mm at The Royal. Could not have asked for a better introduction to this wonderful work.
I was born the year this film was released, I'm unbelievably grateful this film exists to give some insight as to what the world was like back then. This film works so well because the stakes are so low. Nothing happens to any of the characters that will substantially impact their lives in any sort of groundbreaking way. This is a film of moments shared between strangers. That one conversation you had years ago with someone you didn't know and have not seen since that continues to linger in your memory for some unknown reason.
I did not want this film to end. I could watch hours of this. Maybe not groundbreaking, maybe not a masterpiece, but this film reminded me of why I fell in love with the medium to begin with.
Review by Molly Ringworm ★★★★

Not to go all "cinephile" on you, but this one truly pops in 35mm on a big screen.
Review by MitchLaughLove

35 mm
Review by IainG ★★★★★

Loved this movie. Very different - oddly relaxed and intense at the same time. Bouncing around the world simply dropping in on people's lives, in a relaxed plot free style, then the intensity builds as you get sucked into the events and decisions people make.