Dir. Jim Jarmusch

Starring Winona Ryder, Rosie Perez, Roberto Benigni, etc.

5 slices of the lives of 5 cabbies in 5 cities around the one world which we do own. Yeah, the original tagline is slightly better.

It’s quite common for movies to forget themselves, get lost in the chase for an audience, and lose the heart of the story. How often have you gone to see a movie, already loving the key ingredients of it? You know and like the actors, the storyline intrigues you, and then you find that it was just a big mess in one way or another.

Now, Jim Jarmusch must have it easy in some ways. He is a storyteller. The premise of 5 cab rides at night may sound like a bad reality TV-show, but in the hands of a good storyteller it will entertain you. The stories in this movie aren’t even that important though, it’s the way they are told. Nothing much is happening, but the way it’s not is fantastic. It will have you hooked and wanting more, but you still feel fulfilled.

This is a very good movie if you’re looking for something to “clear the palet” inbetween your regular intake of blockbusters and trilogies. If you’ve somehow become disillusioned by a movie you’ve seen, check this out. It may restore some of your faith in movies.

Keywords: Episodal, Taxi

Dir. Jim Jarmusch

Starring Winona Ryder, Rosie Perez, Robert Benigni etc.,

As a photographer often strives to show us the beauty in everyday ordinary objects, Jim Jarmusch shows us that there can be hilariousness, tragedy, angst and even insight in life’s little mundane moments if we just take the time to really look. Night on earth, takes 5 different taxis, in 5 different cities around the world and gives us a little peek into people’s lives all over the world.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

The evening starts off in Los Angeles where a wealthy snobbish woman, Victoria Snelling (Gena Rowlands) takes a cab with Corky (Winona Ryder) a tom-boyish cab driver. Although we would tend to believe that Victoria is the well to do lady and Corky is feisty and rough around the edges we learn that maybe Corky is the one that actually has it all together. When Victoria offers Corky the chance to be a movie star (heck, be someone she is not… and for money!) how could she possibly pass that up?… She is astounded to find that Corky actually knows what she wants in life and it has nothing to do with money or fame… all she wants is to do what she loves and be loved for who she is. Isn’t that, in fact, what we all want?

As the world turns, so do our stories: Black diplomats denigrate a black cab driver in Paris, who, in turn, enraged by their racism, dumps them in the middle of nowhere to later pick up a blind woman and find that he is more blind than she ever could be, and in Finland we learn that no matter how bad we think our lives are, someone out there has got it worse.

Don’t think this film is just about sad circumstances and harsh realities. Just like real life, it is also full of comedy and belly-aching goodness. Roberto Benigni makes us explode with laughter as an hyperactive Italian cab driver that decides to confess his sexual sins to a priest he picks up at 4am.

Cut a slice in anyone’s life and you will see, we all have a story. Nobody is just ordinary.

This movie is a little gem. It reminds us to look further than our noses and realize that life is full of interesting and wonderful moments and people, if we just allow ourselves to get a little bit closer.

Keywords: Episodal, Taxi