Night on Earth (15.)
Directed by Jim Jarmusch.
1992. Starring Roberto Benigni, Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ginacarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Isaach De Bankole and Beatrice Dalle. 128 mins.
In the overview I described this boxset of Jarmusch's first six films as charting the marching to the top of the hill section of his story; in it he moves steadily upwards from his early efforts to the career pinnacle Dead Man. The follow up to Mystery Train though is a major step backwards, even though it does give Roberto Benigni the greatest showcase for his talents of his career. If you've never liked him in anything else, there's still a strong chance you'll bless his bolt of comic energy when he comes to zap this film into life in the fourth of its five chapter.
After Mystery Train, Jarmusch again went for a segmented narrative, focusing on five taxi journeys that take place at exactly the same time in five different cities on the same night, starting in Los Angeles and working its way eastward to take in New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. The progress is charted by close ups of a globe and by a wall of five clocks set to the times in each city.
In early evening Los Angeles, Rowlands is a casting agent picked up at the airport by Ryder. In nighttime New York the only taxi Esposito can get to take him back to Brooklyn is that of an East German immigrant (Mueller-Stahl) who can't really drive. In small hours Paris, cabbie Bankole is having a tough night and picks up a blind girl Dalle in the mistaken hope that she won't give him any problems. In same time zone Rome Benigni picks up a priest and decides to confess his sins. In Helsinki just before the morning light, a group of drunks swap hard luck stories with their cabby.
All of the five stories are intentionally slight, but the first three really amount to so little that you have to wonder what it was Jarmusch saw in them. Of course the stories in Mystery Train were relatively inconsequential but the inter-connections between them and the shared locations and themes gave them tremendous resonance. Here at the end of each story the people part, the clocks on the wall go back to seven minutes past the hour and the camera spins across the globe to the next location and the characters fade from memory. Other than a few little overlaps – people smoking, sunglasses – there is no connection between the stories. Which is fine – it doesn't have to be taxi cab Cloud Atlas – but in that case surely the stories should be stronger.
Possibly the most disappointing thing about it is that there is so little sense of place. Each section starts with a little get to know the neighbourhood sequence, a series of static shots of everyday locations but the cinematography of Frederik Elmes, though fine in itself, is relatively anonymous, especially compared to to Robby Muller's work on Down by Law and Mystery Train. Though three of the stories are set in the wee small hours the film, except perhaps in the final segment, never quite gets that sense of the wonder of the early hours, of being up and out while the world sleeps.
It's a disappointing film but at least it ends well. The Aki Kaurismaki inspired Helsinki sequence (featuring various Leningrad Cowboys) is lovely and sad, but it is Benigni's show. The previous hour and a quarter have seriously lowered expectations so he has the advantage of having a free run at it but even so it is virtuoso stuff. And not only is it hilarious, it is the only story which seems to have any kind of edge. As Benigni torments the priest with his tales of sexual transgression, you can never tell if he is innocently unaware or whether he is maliciously goading him.
Jim Jarmusch box set review
Directed by Jim Jarmusch.
1992. Starring Roberto Benigni, Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ginacarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Isaach De Bankole and Beatrice Dalle. 128 mins.
In the overview I described this boxset of Jarmusch's first six films as charting the marching to the top of the hill section of his story; in it he moves steadily upwards from his early efforts to the career pinnacle Dead Man. The follow up to Mystery Train though is a major step backwards, even though it does give Roberto Benigni the greatest showcase for his talents of his career. If you've never liked him in anything else, there's still a strong chance you'll bless his bolt of comic energy when he comes to zap this film into life in the fourth of its five chapter.
After Mystery Train, Jarmusch again went for a segmented narrative, focusing on five taxi journeys that take place at exactly the same time in five different cities on the same night, starting in Los Angeles and working its way eastward to take in New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. The progress is charted by close ups of a globe and by a wall of five clocks set to the times in each city.
In early evening Los Angeles, Rowlands is a casting agent picked up at the airport by Ryder. In nighttime New York the only taxi Esposito can get to take him back to Brooklyn is that of an East German immigrant (Mueller-Stahl) who can't really drive. In small hours Paris, cabbie Bankole is having a tough night and picks up a blind girl Dalle in the mistaken hope that she won't give him any problems. In same time zone Rome Benigni picks up a priest and decides to confess his sins. In Helsinki just before the morning light, a group of drunks swap hard luck stories with their cabby.
All of the five stories are intentionally slight, but the first three really amount to so little that you have to wonder what it was Jarmusch saw in them. Of course the stories in Mystery Train were relatively inconsequential but the inter-connections between them and the shared locations and themes gave them tremendous resonance. Here at the end of each story the people part, the clocks on the wall go back to seven minutes past the hour and the camera spins across the globe to the next location and the characters fade from memory. Other than a few little overlaps – people smoking, sunglasses – there is no connection between the stories. Which is fine – it doesn't have to be taxi cab Cloud Atlas – but in that case surely the stories should be stronger.
Possibly the most disappointing thing about it is that there is so little sense of place. Each section starts with a little get to know the neighbourhood sequence, a series of static shots of everyday locations but the cinematography of Frederik Elmes, though fine in itself, is relatively anonymous, especially compared to to Robby Muller's work on Down by Law and Mystery Train. Though three of the stories are set in the wee small hours the film, except perhaps in the final segment, never quite gets that sense of the wonder of the early hours, of being up and out while the world sleeps.
It's a disappointing film but at least it ends well. The Aki Kaurismaki inspired Helsinki sequence (featuring various Leningrad Cowboys) is lovely and sad, but it is Benigni's show. The previous hour and a quarter have seriously lowered expectations so he has the advantage of having a free run at it but even so it is virtuoso stuff. And not only is it hilarious, it is the only story which seems to have any kind of edge. As Benigni torments the priest with his tales of sexual transgression, you can never tell if he is innocently unaware or whether he is maliciously goading him.
Jim Jarmusch box set review
