Night on Earth

"Five taxis. Five cities. One night."

1991 2h 9m EN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🍅

77%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 1,098🍅77%Rotten Tomatoes●68Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 69,395

ComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

“Five taxis. Five cities. One night.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Winona Ryder
Corky
Gena Rowlands
Victoria Snelling
Giancarlo Esposito
YoYo
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Helmut Grokenberger
Rosie Perez
Angela
Isaach de Bankolé
Cab Driver Paris
Béatrice Dalle
Blind Woman
Roberto Benigni
Cab Driver Rome

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Writers: Jim Jarmusch
Languages: French, Finnish, English, Italian, German
Countries: United States of America, Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 58% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

35 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 5 languages: French, Finnish, English, Italian, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Japan.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jim Jarmusch, shot by Frederick Elmes. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Tom Waits. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jay Rabinowitz shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jim Jarmusch directs. Frederick Elmes behind the camera. Tom Waits scores. Jay Rabinowitz cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Japan. Dialogue in French, Finnish, English, Italian, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 58% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
335 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 5 languages: French, Finnish, English, Italian, German.
5International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Japan.
6Directed by Jim Jarmusch, shot by Frederick Elmes. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Tom Waits. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Jay Rabinowitz shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Winona Ryder and Gena Rowlands and Giancarlo Esposito carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Five taxis. Five cities. One night.".
11IMDB entry: tt0102536 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 21 themes, including "helsinki, finland", "new york city", "taxi", "metropolis".

The technical file

Cinematography: Frederick Elmes
Original score: Tom Waits
Editing: Jay Rabinowitz
Costume design: Magda Bava
Makeup / hair: Kaija Ilomäki
Sound: Anthony J. Ciccolini III
Stunt coordinator: Riccardo Petrazzi
Runtime: 129 min · 2h 9m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,500,000
Box office: $2,015,810
Return: 58% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Night on Earth (1991)
Rotten Tomatoes: 77% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 68/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 69,395 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 1 nomination total

Also by

Jim Jarmusch

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2023-12-13
★ 4/10
In short, cities at night are beautiful, and taxi drivers generally drive poorly. This film focuses on five short stories that happened at almost the same time and on the same night to five taxi drivers in five cities: Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. Directed and written by Jim Jarmusch, it is not a pretentious film, quite the opposite, and does what films should do: entertain us with five good stories. Obviously, being Jarmusch, these stories touch on a lot of the more human side of common characters. Regarding the stories told in the film, we can summarize them in a message that will not please taxi drivers: in this film, they drive terribly badly and are unlikely to prove competent in their work. The story set in Los Angeles is perhaps the most uninteresting because, in fact, nothing happens except the taxi ride. I also didn't really like the story set in Paris, after all none of those characters seemed the least bit friendly, they were all idiots. The rest are better: the story set in New York is quite moving and shows the more human and understanding side of a grumpy (it seems they are all like that) New Yorker; In Rome, we have a spirited taxi driver who decides to take advantage of the ride with a priest to confess his most outrageous bedroom peccadilloes; in Helsinki, there is a suffering taxi driver telling his sorrows to three drunk passengers. Okay, the film isn't exactly the most interesting or the most appealing, it doesn't have a flashy script and the stories told aren't even anything brutally interesting, but the truth is that the film, with a very bizarre comedy style, works. And the actors, who are very well selected, contribute a lot to this. Despite not liking the segment in which she appears, Winona Ryder is quite competent in her role and leaves us with a very pleasant feeling. Giancarlo Esposito and Armin Mueller-Stahl also don't leave us disappointed because they both interact wonderfully well and create a very good work dynamic. Roberto Benigni is virtually himself, anyone who is already familiar with the style and humor of this unique Italian actor will not find any major surprises here. Matti Pellonpaa does what he needs to do, but moves more discreetly than any of his colleagues. On the negative side, I found Rosie Perez perfectly irritating and histrionic, Gena Rowlands is excessively pedantic even though that wasn't her intention, Beatrice Dalle is rude and unfriendly, Isaach De Bankolé has no interest and sometimes seems stupid in his dialogue and attitudes. Technically, the film exudes "B series" from every pore: the cinematography does not reveal any detail beyond the average, but what it does is well done; the visual and sound effects are effective but equally discreet; taxis really seem to be reliable vehicles and not theater props pulled by some trailer. The nighttime urban landscapes, with their lights and neon (it was still very fashionable) are everything we expected, and they are beautiful, but they are not the kind of beauty that would make us stare in rapture. I enjoyed observing the use of different languages in the various locations where everything happens. The clock and globe effects worked very well, but they feel quite cheap. However, what I have to consider bad is the irritating soundtrack, which seems to mock the film itself.

Production companies