"Night On Earth" is one of Jim Jarmusch's multi-story films, this one loosely constructed around the conceit of the taxi cab, which figures importantly in five different stories set in five cities. In Los Angeles, Winona Ryder improbably plays a gum-snapping cab driver who drives around the glamorous movie exec Gena Rowlands. In New York, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, and Armin Mueller-Stahl hilariously cycle around the city in a cab as their crisply written dialogue hilariously probes at issues of racial and ethnic confusion. In Paris, the contrast between the black cab driver Isaach de Bankole and his blind white passenger Beatrice Dalle is similarly charged with racial tension, of a less comedic but very awkward variety. The Italian segment of the film is possibly the best, with Roberto Benigni turning in one of his funniest performances as an over-the-top, perverted cabbie with a penchant for sheep and vegetables. Finally, the Helsinki sequence is a melancholy coda, with Matti Pellonpaa exchanging sob stories with a handful of drunken local lads. In all five stories, Jarmusch maintains a balance between humor, social commentary, and poignant humanity. It's a funny, moving, and always intriguing film.

Since the early 1980's, Jim Jarmusch has been one of America's indie darlings, and with good reason. His droll comedies manage to make the audience chuckle, and sometimes even laugh out loud without cheap gags, simply by letting his characters be. This anthology feature is among his ver finest works in that regard, it is an exercise in control since none of his characters spend any more than a couple of minutes outside of their taxicabs. The premise is following 5 concurrent cab rides in different parts of the world and seeing what happens. The film follows tomboy Winona Ryder and talent agent Gena Rowlands on a trip home from the airport in Los Angeles, eastern european immigrant Armin Mueller-Stahl driving b-boy Giancarlo Esposito and his sister-in-law Rosie Perez home to Brooklyn in a hilarious cross-cultural piece, Isaach de Bankole drives blind and tough-as-nails beauty Beatrice Dalle home and de Bankole finds himself neutered by the caustic beauty. The films ends with the two best segments, Rome and Helsinki. In Rome, driver Roberto Benigni escorts a priest home late one evening and unknowingly confesses the poor man to death with tales of depravity he feels compelled to relate via a sort of Benigni-esque verbal diarrhea, completely out of order and utterly hilarious. Helsinki takes a tragic turn when cabbie Matti Pellonpää drives home three drunken and complaining workers after a night of boozing, it becomes a pissing match to determine who has the saddest life story, needless to say, it is the poor driver who puts his passengers in their place, but how? Well, you'll have to watch to find out. This is one of Jarmusch's most poignant films, not to mention ambitious. Unfortunately, this disc has nothing spectacular to offer aside from the film, as there are no extras and not even any subtitle options. It is an inexpensive way to see the film, however, if you really want to see it the right way, The Criterion Collection has already confirmed a special edition for later this year. My advice, rent this one, buy the Criterion.