Overview
Five cab rides across the globe reveal the humor and heart of everyday life.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- witty
- deadpan
- melancholic
- late night viewing
- city film marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film's humane international ensemble of nocturnal taxi vignettes, while finding the individual segments uneven in comic and emotional success.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Five cab-driver stories occur on the same night in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki.
Each taxi ride creates a short-lived exchange between passengers and drivers who reveal personal anxieties and desires.
The stories use dry dialogue and eccentric personalities within quiet nighttime taxi rides, including the comic New York and Rome episodes.
The New York and Paris segments foreground linguistic, cultural, and perceptual differences between cab drivers and passengers.
Films like Night on Earth, and why
Coffee and Cigarettes
shared episodic structure, nocturnal urbanity, deadpan humor, and fleeting encounters among strangers
Stranger Than Paradise
shared Jim Jarmusch sensibility, offbeat comedy, minimalist dialogue, and cross-cultural human connection
Mystery Train
shared interwoven city stories, chance encounters, melancholy, and understated social observation
Taxi Driver
shared cab-centered urban encounters, alienation, and intimate conversations unfolding across a city at night
Movie Details
- Director
- Jim Jarmusch
- Release Date
- 1991-12-12
- Runtime
- 129 min
- Rating
- 7.5 / 10 (1095)
Cast
- Winona Ryder
- Gena Rowlands
- Giancarlo Esposito
- Armin Mueller-Stahl
- Rosie Perez
- Isaach de Bankolé
- Béatrice Dalle
- Roberto Benigni
- Paolo Bonacelli
- Matti Pellonpää
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, Cinemax Amazon Channel, HBO Max, Cinemax Apple TV channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Night on Earth about?
- Five nighttime taxi rides across the world become wry, melancholy portraits of strangers finding momentary connection in the urban dark.
- What is Night on Earth like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Night on Earth as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Night on Earth violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Night on Earth.
- What did critics think of Night on Earth?
- Critics broadly praised the film's humane international ensemble of nocturnal taxi vignettes, while finding the individual segments uneven in comic and emotional success.
- Which films are like Night on Earth?
- Films with a similar feel include Coffee and Cigarettes, Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train, and Taxi Driver.
- How long is Night on Earth?
- Night on Earth runs 129 minutes.
- Where can I watch Night on Earth?
- In United States, Night on Earth streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, Cinemax Amazon Channel, HBO Max, Cinemax Apple TV channel.
