Jim Jarmusch's "Night on Earth" is a tricky movie. A tricky long-duration movie that wins points because its masterfully made and because the connections established between its different parts justify its condition of full-length feature. Otherwise, we were simply fooled by the original Jarmusch (well, maybe we were a little), as we lived the experience of five different shorts in the same movie, presented as one whole piece. The truth is I don't know what was the man's plan, so these are guesses. <br /><br />However, whatever the plan there's no doubt that "Night on Earth" is a good piece of film-making. Honest also, the film doesn't ask much of the viewer; only that he or she listens and watches carefully. If you do that, you will be rewarded. But don't worry about trying to get some 'meaning of life' thing out of this ride; the less you look for the better, because although Jarmusch's script is as complex and thought provoking as they come, there's never an intention of teaching something or giving a lesson of anything. <br /><br />The development is simple, as stated in the adequate tagline: "Five Taxis, Five Cities, One Night". What's a night on Earth, anyway? Well, for me it's just about every single night of my life, and I suppose it's the same for Matsan who lives with me and for my parents and brothers for that matter. Well, Jarmusch chose the cities and the characters: taxi drivers. <br /><br />I mention the characters in detail and not the cities because I personally believe that these five cities could have been any of the cities of the world (of the Earth, to respect the film's title). The fact that the cities Jarmusch chose are iconic world places and that the director 'knows the night' of every one of them and shoots them brilliantly and similarly and trying to tour them all is a remarkable fact, but still I don't feel the necessity of mentioning the cities in this review. <br /><br />As I said, I'd like to make a reference to the taxi drivers: the first one, played splendidly by Winona Ryder is a compulsive smoker who looks and acts like a boy and cares about nothing else than her work and becoming a mechanic; the second one, played by a phenomenal Almin Mueller Stahl, is a man who is apparently driving a car for the first time; the others include Roberto Benigni (and I think with that you can imagine the character), a black driver played by Isaach De Bankolé and a driver named Mika played by Matti Pellonpaa. <br /><br />All of these individuals 'are' the film, which shows each taxi from a few camera angles and cares about anything else than the people in each car (the ones who are not driving also give magnificent portrayals) and the streets of each city. I realize that I might not be writing a very enthusiastic review, but I think it may not be enough with the expressions 'amazing script' and 'amazing human perception' to convince to watch this atypical picture. <br /><br />I'm going to take one last risk by telling you that what you'll see must happen every day in many cities of the Earth. But to write it down and shoot it for people to watch it, laugh at or with it and maybe also cry, is very original and unforgettable. <br /><br />Of course, if like I said in the first place, "Night on Earth" had been a series of shorts, or a miniseries or whatever, I wouldn't have had this trouble writing the review. Watch the film and tell me about it.