Night on Earth

Night on Earth

2DORCS15
Director:Jim Jarmusch
Cast:Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Isaach De Bankolé
Premiere:19. January 2017
Length:129 minutes
Genre:Comedy, Drama

Director: Jim Jarmusch  •  Scenario: Jim Jarmusch  •  Camera: Frederick Elmes  •  Haircut: Jay Rabinowitz  •  Cast: Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Isaach De Bankolé, Roberto Benigni

Jarmusch's second colour film is divided into five short stories, set simultaneously during the night in different time zones in five major cities (Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, Helsinki) and in their respective languages. The actors are local taxi drivers and their passengers. Jarmusch subtly paraphrases the typical characters, genres and styles of each cinema (Hollywood, the New York School, French neo-Baroque cinema, big-budget Italian farce, Aki Kaurismäki's Nordic brooding films), which comes through in the narrative rhythm, the accentuation of meaningful motifs, Tom Waits' precise music and the actual cast of "typical" actors of that particular cinema. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes (who has worked on films by David Lynch) makes the most of the necessarily static camera, confining himself to observing the actors in the taxi environment and characterising the passing big city streets. The refined narrative structure provides, in only seemingly "random" situations, a picture of a world of paradoxes in which "sighted" blind and homeless people live everywhere, and in which everyone has to cope with feelings of alienation in an environment of false myths.

A Night on Earth is a small, wise and highly entertaining film, deserving of the attention of all admirers of good cinema for its intelligence, humour and ideas.

Length: 129 min

Year: 1991
Local premiere date: 19. January 2017

Country of origin:

  • United states of America
  • France
  • United Kingdom
  • Germany
  • Japan

Director: Jim Jarmusch  •  Scenario: Jim Jarmusch  •  Camera: Frederick Elmes  •  Haircut: Jay Rabinowitz  •  Cast: Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Isaach De Bankolé, Roberto Benigni

Jarmusch's second colour film is divided into five short stories, set simultaneously during the night in different time zones in five major cities (Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, Helsinki) and in their respective languages. The actors are local taxi drivers and their passengers. Jarmusch subtly paraphrases the typical characters, genres and styles of each cinema (Hollywood, the New York School, French neo-Baroque cinema, big-budget Italian farce, Aki Kaurismäki's Nordic brooding films), which comes through in the narrative rhythm, the accentuation of meaningful motifs, Tom Waits' precise music and the actual cast of "typical" actors of that particular cinema. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes (who has worked on films by David Lynch) makes the most of the necessarily static camera, confining himself to observing the actors in the taxi environment and characterising the passing big city streets. The refined narrative structure provides, in only seemingly "random" situations, a picture of a world of paradoxes in which "sighted" blind and homeless people live everywhere, and in which everyone has to cope with feelings of alienation in an environment of false myths.

A Night on Earth is a small, wise and highly entertaining film, deserving of the attention of all admirers of good cinema for its intelligence, humour and ideas.

Year: 1991
Local premiere date: 19. January 2017

Country of origin:

  • United states of America
  • France
  • United Kingdom
  • Germany
  • Japan