Simply A Masterpiece

One of my all time favorites.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Jim Jarmusch is an acquired taste, at best. This 1991 movie, which was produced, directed, and written by Jarmusch, is slow, self-indulgent, and horribly scripted. Five scenes, in five dark cities, play out at night. These are taxi scenes, but take it from me, folks: I have driven a taxi in two cities, only one of them dark, and every night that I drove I returned home with at least one story to relate that was better than these. It is painful to watch Gina Rowlands or Winona Ryder, for example, deliver lines that make them look like beginning actors. Only Roberto Benigni, who probably wrote his own comic bit, sustains any interest. Enjoy another film.

I've been a taxi driver for almost 30 years, and when discussing movies featuring taxis, I always say that there's only been one movie that gives a fair description of what taxi driving is all about. Jarmush hits it spot on here. Through 5 episodes in 5 different cities, all happening at the same time, he takes us into the magic World of night driving. I'll agree with most that the 1st episode (LA) is also the weakest. But good performances by Rowlands and Ryder still manages to bring it home nicely. Then we move to NY for a warm, touching and low key funny episode with a great performance by Stahl. Now off to Paris for a weird, but strangely fascinating interaction between a Black driver and a blind girl. This is an episode that grows on you the more times you see it. Now for some good fun. Welcome to the Benigni show in Rome. Now this may be the least authentic part, but it's downright hilarious. After having had your spirits lifted here we move on to Cold, gloomy Helsinki for the final part that could very well bring out the tears. It does however end with a light twist to get you out without feeling too miserable. This is my favorite Jarmush movie. It's about real people, it has great dialogue and while it may not be a great masterpiece, it's certainly a Little one.

Jim Jarmusch's experiment is a succession of 5 "short" films, all taking place in a taxi, at night - hence the title - in various cities. If you've experienced anything like Paris, Je T'Aime or it's New York based counterpoint, then you have an idea what to expect... except you don't, not really. All the flaws are reversed.Jarmusch has a knack for absurd situations, but 2 important factors constrain him in this case: Length: 5 minutes per film might be a bit short sometimes to get anything more than a gimmick or gotcha, but 20 minutes, given the confined space, proves tiresome in most of the vignettes. There is simply too little for many of his characters to do or express given the rules Jarmusch has set himself. Cliché: not a bad thing in itself when it can be subverted a bit (and to a degree, one of the segments does this with a lot of charm), but here things become a bit too obvious. Of course, the LA segment is a bout filmmaking/acting, the Paris story about sex, and the Scandinavian one had to be about death. Mixing things up could have been more refreshing. The twist to the French one saves it a bit.The consistency of vision helps, something compilations of shorts by various filmmakers lack. But the real saving grace is the performances - with the exception of a typically overbearing Roberto Benigni - and the jewel of the collection, so to speak, that is the Paris segment with the ever- dependable Isaach De Bankolé. In fact, a whole film wit his character would have probably a better final product, though that would deprive us of the sight of Armin Mueller-Stahl and Gena Rowlands, two touching artists we see all too rarely.Worth seeing at least once.

I can't believe that IMDb watchers rated this a 7.7 stars, they must've been high on some kind of serious drugs or something! Five pointless stories about five foreign cabdrivers. This film makes you think that something is going to happen around the next turn but nothing does, no cool twists or anything funny just boring stories that made my girlfriend fall asleep. The first two stories were better than the last three. The boring story with Winona Ryder was probably the best, this was one of her first films and must not have read the script very well. She must have needed some money real bad to decide to do this horrible movie. Get ready to put your ear plugs in when you see Rosie Perez coming with her annoying shrieking voice of darkness! This scene was really annoying even the drunks in the ghetto wanted to tell her to shut up. I was hoping that each story might have some type of twist coming into the plot, but they never did and I was very surprised I watched the last two stories, they just got worse as they went along. The last three of them are even captioned, you actually have to take the extra energy to read the words, so really!!! – Don't bother with this movie, it really sucked. Absolutely pointless, none of them had any substance.