Midnight Express

Based on the non-fiction novel by Billy Hayes and William Hoffer, Midnight Express is the story of an American student in Turkey who is sent to prison for smuggling hashish as he tries to escape. Directed by Alan Parker and screenplay by Oliver Stone, the film is a prison drama set in Turkey where a young man befriends other prisoners as he would also endure torture as the character of Hayes is played by Brad Davis. Also starring Randy Quaid, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli, Paul L. Smith, Norbert Weisser, Peter Jeffrey, and John Hurt. Midnight Express is a haunting and gripping film from Alan Parker.

Told in the span of five years from 1970 to 1975, an American student named Billy Hayes is trying to smuggle 2kg of hashish in Turkey where he is sent to prison as he endures its torturous setting. It’s a film that is a prison drama set in one of the most brutal prisons in the world where this young American has to deal with beatings, horrific conditions, and prisoners who are more likely to kill you than be your friends. Oliver Stone’s screenplay opens with Hayes trying to smuggle as much hashish as he could yet Turkish custom officers know something is up. While an American official named Tex (Bo Hopkins) a deal for Hayes to find out who supplied him the hashish and be sent back to America without any trouble. Hayes becomes aware that something isn’t right where he is sent to prison as much of the film’s first act is about Hayes dealing with being in prison and his first trial where the prosecutor wants to give him a harsher punishment but the judge ruled that Hayes would serve a four-year sentence.

The film’s second act moves towards 1974 just as he had befriended an American prisoner in Jimmy (Randy Quaid), a British heroin addict named Max (John Hurt), and a Swede in Erich (Norbert Weisser) where Jimmy is eager to plot an escape from prison as it’s considered an impossible task. With 53 days left of his sentence, Hayes believes he will finally come home but an appeal by the prosecutor to the Turkish High Court changes everything as the sentence is expanded to 30 years. It play into this sense of loss and injustice that Hayes endured yet he is someone who had taken responsibility for his actions and felt that he’s done his time. It would lead to him, Jimmy, and Max to try and escape with its third act set in 1975 as it play into Hayes’ frustration as well as some of the corrupt elements of the prison where a prisoner in Rifki (Paolo Bonacelli) has made deals with guards and such that would help them both financially.

Alan Parker’s direction is astonishing in its approach to suspense and drama from the way he opens the film with Hayes trying to put as much hashish on his body and him at the airport hoping to get past customs. Shot mainly on location in Fort Saint Elmo in Valetta, Malta in Italy as Parker and his crew were unable to shoot on location in Istanbul as they were denied access to the location. The usage of Fort Saint Elmo would create this world that is Istanbul in the early 1970s where it’s a place where a lot of hippies would go there to get high but when one breaks the law there. The usage of wide shots get a look at the many locations as well as the prison itself where it is this unforgiving environment that is detached from the outside world where the prisoners have little clue of what is happening. The usage of close-ups and medium shots play into the space and intimacy in some of the rooms and cells along with the bathrooms and other rooms in the prison. Parker’s usage of tracking shots and careful compositions that include some of the trial scenes help play into the drama as well as Hayes’ struggle where he does what he can to maintain his sanity.

Parker’s direction also play into the brutality of prison where it’s much more different in Turkey where the warden will beat a man’s feet with his club or will do things that will break you physically, mentally, and emotionally. It’s also a place where there’s few allies as where you mess with a prisoner, that prisoner will find a way to fight back. The film does feature some narration from Hayes as he’s writing letters to loved ones as endures his sentence while he, Jimmy, and Max would try to find a way out of prison. The film’s third act that takes place in 1975 which is about the attempted escapes but also Hayes’ action upon learning about what Rifki had been doing play into this act of desperation to escape once he and Max are sent to an asylum for the duration of their sentences. Overall, Parker crafts a visceral yet intense film about an American student serving time in a Turkish prison which is one of the most unforgiving places in the world.

Cinematographer Michael Seresin does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of natural lighting for many of the daytime exterior scenes as well as its usage of available lighting for many of the interiors including some scenes set at night. Editor Gerry Hambling does excellent work with the editing as it does have some unique rhythms that help play into the suspense and drama including some slow-motion cuts for a fight scene. Production designer Geoffrey Kirkland and art director Evan Hercules do amazing work with the look of the prison cells, courtrooms, and other places in the prisons and asylum as it adds to its harsh and brutal conditions.

Costume designer Milena Canonero does fantastic work with the costumes with the look of the ragged clothes that the prisoners wear including some of the ragged hippie-like clothing that Hayes, Jimmy, and Erich wear. Sound mixer Clive Winter does terrific work with the sound in capturing the atmosphere of the prison in the inside as well as the sense of terror and dread that occurs inside. The film’s music by Giorgio Moroder is great as it is largely a synthesizer-driven score that feature some intense pieces as well as somber pieces that play into some of the drama including a romantic moment between Hayes and Erich as it’s one of the film’s highlights.

The film’s superb cast feature some notable small roles from Michael Yannatos as a court translator, Peter Jeffrey as a British insane asylum patient Hayes meets late in the film in Ahmet, Gigi Ballista as a sympathetic Turkish judge, Michael Ensign as an American ambassador in Turkey, Franco Diogene as the Turkish lawyer Yesil, Mike Kellin as Hayes’ father, Yashaw Adem as the airport customs chief, and Kevork Malikyan as the prosecutor who wants Hayes to suffer for his actions. Bo Hopkins is terrific as a mysterious American official known as Tex who offers Hayes a deal only to work with the Turkish government in ensuring that Hayes goes to prison. Irene Miracle is wonderful as Hayes’ girlfriend Susan who was in Turkey when he got busted as she would later visit him late in the film in a weirdly-comical moment in the film.

Norbert Weisser is fantastic as the Swedish smuggler Erich as a man who sympathizes with Hayes as they briefly engage into a homosexual relationship to defy the country’s anti-gay laws. Paul L. Smith is excellent as the brutal prison warden Hamidou as this man that has great joy in beating up his prisoners as well as doing some of the most terrifying things to them. Paolo Bonacelli is brilliant as Rifki as a Turkish prisoner whom Hayes has to share his cell with as he and Max don’t like him much as he’s also someone that seems to have a lot of connection that can make his stay comfortable. Randy Quaid is amazing as Jimmy as an American prisoner who is in prison for stealing candles at a mosque as someone that is eager to get out any way he can despite the beatings he’s taken where he is determined to get out of Turkey and find salvation in Greece.

John Hurt is incredible as the English heroin addict Max as a man who is an offbeat figure as a man who is also willing to get out but knows a lot about law and such yet is driven to the edge over Rifki’s actions. Finally, there’s Brad Davis in an incredible performance as Billy Hayes as a young American student who gets caught smuggling hashish where he is later sent to Turkish prison as Davis displays a young man that is naïve in what he was trying to do and learn from his problems only to deal with the injustice where he becomes angry and determined to get out of Turkey any way he can.

Midnight Express is a sensational film from Alan Parker. Featuring a great cast, Oliver Stone’s riveting screenplay, dazzling visuals, and a hypnotic music score by Giorgio Moroder. It’s a film that explore the dangerous world of Turkish prisons as well as what men have to endure in a world that is far more intense as well as to find some sort of hope where the rules are different than their usual surroundings. In the end, Midnight Express is a phenomenal film from Alan Parker.

Alan Parker Films: (Play for Today-The Evacuees) - (Bugsy Malone) – (Fame (1980 film)) – (Shoot the Moon) – Pink Floyd: The Wall - (Birdy) – (Angel Heart) – (Mississippi Burning) – (Come See the Paradise) – (The Commitments) – (The Road to Wellville) – (Evita) – (Angela’s Ashes) – (The Life of David Gale)

© thevoid99 2019

2014 Blind Spot Series: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is the story of a world set in 1944 Nazi-Fascist Italy where four libertines capture a group of teenagers as they subject to horrific forms of torture as it’s told in four different segments. Directed Pier Paolo Pasolini and screenplay by Pasolini and Sergio Citti, the film is considered one of the controversial and obscene scene films of its time as Pasolini interprets de Sade’s 18th century novel into a dark period in Italy in what would be Pasolini’s final film. Starring Paolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Umberto P. Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto, Elsa de Giorgi, Helene Surgere, and Sonia Saviange. Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is an absolutely disgusting, obscene, and tremendously powerful from Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Set in a Nazi-Fascist controlled region in Northern Italy known as Salo, the film revolve around four leaders of the land who conspire to kidnap a large group of teenagers and subject them to extreme measures of torture. Told in four chapters as it’s based on the different stories of Marquis de Sade, it’s a film that explores a dark world where four men with their army and a small band of rich whore torment the young in their own sick and demented way. Much of which involves forms of torture that is physical, emotional, and mental to the point that the victims ponder if God will save them. The film’s screenplay uses these different stories of de Sade as well as Dante’s Divine Comedy as ideas for what Pier Paolo Pasolini and co-writer Sergio Citti are creating to play into the idea of what these Fascists were doing during this dark period in Italian history.

Controlling this world of sodomy, debauchery, and torment are these four libertines who are part of the Italian Social Republic who come up with an idea to torment their own daughters as well as eighteen teenagers for their own game of sodomy. Four additional teenage boys become recruited as guards while there’s four men also on board as studs. Adding to the world of torment are a trio of aging prostitutes who tell elaborate stories of torture to play into the mind games of their victims. During the stories’ progression, the forms of torture would increase into elements where sick would be understating it. In fact, it’s far more insane as the victims are forced to obey certain laws for their own survival. Eventually to the point where these elements of torment would have the victims do whatever to survive as some of them just want to die.

Pasolini’s direction is quite entrancing for the way he presents the film as it’s largely shot in this lavish palace in Northern Italy where it feels like a place that is idyllic. The film starts off in this very enchanting location that has the look of a paradise but once the film moves towards rural locations, it becomes clear that there is no such thing as paradise. What Pasolini shows is this major schism in the social classes where the wealthy and those of power run things while the poor are completely disenfranchised from all of the things the rich has. Instead, they’re pawns in this world of Nazi-Fascist Italy where the young people of the land have no choice but to be victims. Pasolini’s usage of wide shots and slow pans play into this extravagant world that is full of beauty but it’s also discomforting due to the people that live there. Each segment begins with an aging prostitute telling a story that is often accompanied to music as they’re dressed in glamorous clothing as they tell these stories in style. Pasolini’s compositions are quite mesmerizing in the way he puts actors into a frame whether it’s in a close-up, a medium shot, or a wide shot while he does go into great extremes to portray these moments of torture.

Much of it involves very graphic depictions of sex and violence where rape is very common in this palace as these Fascist libertines take pleasure into raping young men and women. The violence is also quite gruesome where it’s not just in the idea of gunplay but also in the forms of torture where it plays into how Fascists conduct their business and do it with great extremes. Among the forms of torture that will definitely be a major test for audiences involve scenes where characters are forced to eat shit. Yes, a feast of feces, excrement, turds, poo-poo, ca-ca is among the form of torture where Pasolini definitely goes all-out to play into this crazed and demented world where these four men get off on all of these things. Overall, Pasolini creates a very unsettling, visceral, and riveting film about life in the Italian Social Republic during World War II.

Cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli does brilliant work with the film‘s cinematography with its use of colors and natural lights for the exterior scenes to way interiors are lit in some scenes as well as setting moods for the scenes involving the prostitutes telling stories. Editor Nino Baragli does amazing work in the editing as it‘s very straightforward while it has some unique rhythmic cuts to play into the action and sense of terror that looms in the film. Production designer Dante Ferretti and set decorator Osvaldo Desideri does incredible work with the set design from the look of the main hall where the prostitute tell their stories as well as some of the rooms where the rich live to the dreary conditions of the rooms the victims have to live in.

Costume designer Danilo Donati does fantastic work with the costumes from the lavish clothes that the prostitutes wear to the uniforms the guards wear and other stylish clothes the libertines wear throughout the film. The sound work of Giorgio Loviscek and Domenico Pasquadibisceglie is superb for the atmosphere of the locations as well as how music is played in some of those scenes along with the sounds of violence. Musical coordinator Ennio Morricone does phenomenal work with assembling the pieces of music in the film as it features an array of classical pieces by Frederic Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Carl Orff plus an instrumental from the 1940s that is conducted by Morricone to play into that dark period of time.

The film’s incredible cast as it features a massive ensemble as many of the talents who play the young victims do great work in displaying the sense of torment and abuse they would endure. Other notable small roles include Ines Pellegrini as a slave girl, Ezio Manni as a collaborator who aids the libertines in the abuse, and Sonia Saviange as the pianist who often accompanies music to the stories of the prostitutes. Helene Sugere and Elsa De Giorgi are excellent in their respective roles as Signora Vaccari and Signora Maggi as two women who tell different stories about their encounters with men. Caterina Boratto is fantastic as Signora Catelli as this lively prostitute who tells the final story as she torments the young victims with these stories that are an absolute disconnect with their own lives.

Aldo Valetti is superb as the President who is this scrawny man that seems to enjoy penetrating anyone he comes across while Umberto Q. Quintavalle is terrific as the Magistrate who is an absolute sadist that takes pleasure in abusing others. Giorgio Cataldi is brilliant as the Bishop who is just as sadistic as the Magistrate as he often writes names down for people to punish as he also wears strange robes during a weird wedding ceremony. Finally, there’s Paolo Bonacelli in an amazing performance as the Duke who leads the ritual of debauchery as it’s a very scary performance as he is extremely chauvinistic and abusive as well as being very violent where it’s really a performance that makes Bonacelli someone will love to hate.

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is a remarkable yet obscene film from Pier Paolo Pasolini. Armed with a great cast and a terrifying premise, this is a film that definitely isn’t for everyone where it makes no qualms in bring discomfort to its audience over its depiction of torture and sodomy. Even as Pasolini isn’t afraid to push buttons and see how much people can take into the extremities of his final film. In the end, Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is a phenomenal yet extremely fucked-up film from the late Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Pier Paolo Pasolini Films: (Accattone) - (La Rabbia) - Mamma Roma - (Location Hunting in Palestine) - (The Gospel According to Matthew) - (Love Meetings) - (The Hawks and the Sparrows) - The Witches (1967 film)- The Earth Seen from the Moon - (Oedipus Rex) - Teorema - (Porcile) - (Medea (1969 film)) - (Appunti per un film sull’India) - (Notes Towards an African Orestes) - The Decameron (1971 film) - The Canterbury Tales - Arabian Nights

© thevoid99 2014

The American (2010 film)

Based on the novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth, The American is the story of an assassin who hides in a small Italian town following a failed assignment as he awaits for orders while falling for a prostitute. Directed by Anton Corbijn and screenplay by Rowan Joffe, the film is a take on the assassin genre as it deals with the code of rules as well as the secretive world of being an assassin. Starring George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, and Johan Leysen. The American is a smart yet visually-haunting film from Anton Corbijn.

After a failed assignment in Sweden that left him killing his way out, Jack (George Clooney) arrives to Rome to meet with a contact about his next assignment. After meeting Pavel (Johan Leysen) in Rome, Jack hides out in the small Castel del Monte near the Abruzzo mountains where he would befriend a priest named Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli). While pretending to be a photographer, Jack would spend his days alone where he calls Pavel as he takes an assignment. A woman named Mathilde (Thekla Reuten) wants Jack to build a rifle for an upcoming assassination target she is to embark on. Jack agrees to do the job as he continues to spend most of his days alone while having chats with Father Benedetto and sleeping with a local prostitute named Carla (Violante Placido).

While maintaining a low profile to build the gun and meeting Mathilde again who wants a few more specifications. Jack believes that there are people after him as he is convinced he is watched. Meanwhile, Jack finds himself falling for Clara as he is still believing that something isn’t right. After contacting Pavel again about the assignment, Jack decides he wants out as he prepares to face whatever is after him.

The film is about a top assassin who goes into hiding as he is facing death and aging while modifying a gun for another assassin. While hiding in this small Italian town, he confers with a priest about morality and life while falling for a local prostitute who is much smarter than she actually perceives to be. It’s a very unique take on the assassin film genre as the character of Jack is someone who likes to live a life of solitude and do things in secrecy. It’s part of what great assassins do as screenwriter Rowan Joffe understands that genre while he aims for a character study approach to this character. Jack, who also calls himself Edward, is a man with no past and no background other than that he is a skilled assassin who has just survived a failed attack on him as he’s on the run.

The lack of a conventional screenplay where there isn’t a lot of dialogue and intense action allows director Anton Corbijn to go for a more entrancing yet minimalist approach to the film. Utilizing haunting yet mesmerizing aerial shots of the towns and landscapes that is presented in the film while going for these eerie compositions such as Jack driving inside a tunnel. Corbijn aims for a very European approach to the film while simple two-shots and low-key compositions for the film’s dramatic portions. For the intense action scenes, Corbijn goes for a traditional approach to rhythm and suspense without presenting these scenes with a swift manner. The overall work that Corbijn does is truly fantastic in the way he creates some amazing shots while maintaining a sense of tension throughout to play up Jack’s sense of paranoia.

Cinematographer Martin Ruhe does a fantastic job with the film‘s colorful yet visually-lush cinematography from the eerie look of the tunnel in the film‘s opening credits to the vibrant red of Carla‘s room as well as the colorful lights of the nighttime exteriors of Castel del Monte. Editor Andrew Hulme does a nice job with the editing as he maintains a very methodical pace for the film to play up the silence of the drama as well as the intensity of the film‘s suspenseful moments. Production designer Mark Digby, along with set decorator Michelle Day and art director Denis Schegg, does an excellent job with the set pieces created such as Carla‘s room, Jack‘s sparse apartment, and the park that Father Benedetto frequents in a calm conversation he has with Jack.

Costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb does a very good job with the costumes as most of the men‘s clothing are quite straightforward while clothes of Carla and Mathilde are very fashionable to represent their personalities. Sound designer Paul Davies does a terrific job with the sound work from the sparse sounds of location including the church bell as well as the sound of gunshots during a target practice scene with Jack and Mathilde. The film’s score by Herbert Gronemeyer is amazing for the array of pieces created such as low-key piano pieces to play up the drama as well as eerie orchestral arrangements to play up the film’s suspense and more visually-haunting scenes.

The casting by Beatrice Kruger is superb for the ensemble that is created as it includes small appearances from Samuel Vauramo as a young Swedish man looking around, Filippo Timi as Father Benedetto’s mechanic son Fabio, and Irina Bjorkland as Jack’s Swedish girlfriend. Notable supporting performances include Johan Leysen as Jack’s secretive contact Pavel, Paolo Bonacelli as the sympathetic Father Benedetto, and Thekla Reuten as the very mysterious assassin Mathilde. Violante Placido is very good as Carla, a prostitute who befriends Jack while wondering about his secrecy as she is revealed to a very street smart girl.

Finally, there’s George Clooney in a marvelous performance as the assassin Jack. Clooney gives a more restrained performance that has him displaying a sense of melancholia and understated paranoia as a man who believes he’s at the end of his rope. It’s definitely Clooney at his best while proving that there’s more to him than being goofy and suave.

The American is a tremendous yet mesmerizing film from Anton Corbijn that features a terrific performance from George Clooney. While the film might not be everyone due to its pacing and European approach to storytelling. It is a film that does pay tribute to the world of assassin film genres with a bit of Sergio Leone’s western style in the mix. In the end, The American is a remarkable film from Anton Corbijn.

Anton Corbijn Films: Control (2007 film) - A Most Wanted Man - (Life (2015 film))

© thevoid99 2012

Night on Earth

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, Night on Earth is a collection of five stories set in five different cities all over the world where a taxi driver and a passenger would engage in various conversations during their brief time together. The film has Jarmusch going into various places with different actors in each city to explore the dynamic between passenger and driver. With an all-star cast that includes Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Issach de Bankole, Beatrice Dalle, Roberto Benigni, Paolo Bonacelli, and Matti Pellonpaa. Night on Earth is an extraordinary yet hypnotic film from Jim Jarmusch.

In Los Angeles, tomboy cab driver Corky (Winona Ryder) picks up the rich casting agent Victoria Snelling (Gena Rowlands) at an airport on their way to Beverly Hills. During the ride, the two women discuss the fallacies of men and their differences as Victoria reveals to have night blindness while Corky aspires to be a mechanic. In New York City, a man named YoYo (Giancarlo Espositio) is trying to get a ride to Brooklyn as he gets a cab driver in an East German circus clown named Helmut Grokenberger (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Unfortunately, it’s Helmut’s first day as he doesn’t know the city nor how to drive as YoYo takes over where the two talk while picking up YoYo’s brash sister-in-law Angela (Rosie Perez).

It’s late at night in Paris as a frustrated cab driver (Issach de Bankole) had just been dealing with a couple of awful passengers (Pascal N’Zonzi and Emile Abossolo M‘bo) as he takes a blind woman (Beatrice Dalle). During the ride, the driver is fascinated by the blind woman as she reveals that she can still do things despite her blindness. In Rome, the talkative Gino (Roberto Benigni) wears sunglasses during the late night as he picks up an ailing priest (Paolo Bonacelli). During the ride, Gino reveals his many sins which overwhelms the priest. In Helsinki, Mika (Matti Pellonpaa) picks up three passengers (Kari Vaananen, Sakari Kuosmanen, and Tomi Salmela) where one of them has just had the worst day of life as Mika tells them a story that moves the two awake passengers.

The idea of a taxi as far as a driver and passenger is concerned is this. Driver takes the passenger on a ride. Passenger tells the driver to its desired location. Driver does that and once the destination is reached, driver gets paid and the passenger is at its desired location. Yet in a world as glorious as this, a simple cab drive could be something more as Jim Jarmusch creates five different stories in five different worlds with several different people in different situations. All in different races, nationalities, age groups, and personalities as Jarmusch creates something is truly engaging in the stories that are told.

In each segment of the film, there is something happening between passenger and driver where they all get something out of this little moment in their lives. For the L.A. segment, two different women bond over their frustration towards men along with their different lifestyles. In the NYC segment, an East-German man becomes fascinated by the city and the two people he meets as it’s a great sense of discovery on his first day as a taxi driver. In Paris, a man from the Ivory Coast is fascinated by this blind woman as he seems uninterested in what he’s doing. The segment in Rome has a very talkative man who drives very fast as he ends up overwhelming an ill priest that is strange dark comedy as it’s one of the strangest. The last segment in Helsinki has a driver taking in three passengers where he reveals to them a sad story that reveals that there’s always something worse from happening.

The script that Jarmusch creates is very loose as each segment is given enough time to develop the relationships and the stories told in these segments. In his direction, Jarmusch goes for the same kind of compositions of each segment to capture the driver and passengers with the camera always in front of the car. Yet, he also brings something different to the look and tone of each segment as some are light-hearted while some can seem grim and entrancing. Jarmusch keeps each segment and fresh so each can bring something different to the table. The film and each segment is preceded with a shot of five clocks where the camera zooms towards the clock with the city’s name above and a globe to reveal where what city is to be told.

Throughout the entirety of the film, each segment opens with a look of the city at night in a montage and a cab to introduce the driver, with the exception of the NYC segment, for each segment. During the entirety of the segments, shots of the cities at night are taken place to reveal what locations the driver and passengers are at. The overall approach to Jarmusch’s direction is very stylish yet intimate portrait of an entire night on earth in five different cities with different people musing about the world around them. What Jarmusch creates is a truly exciting and entertaining film that is unconventional yet engrossing in its simplicity.

Cinematographer Frederick Elmes does a wonderful job with the film‘s colorful cinematography from the evening look early in the Los Angeles airport scene to the colorful lights in New York and Los Angeles. Elmes’ work adds a wonderful beauty to the cities with blue lights for the Paris and Helsinki scenes to more intimate settings for the scenes in Rome. Editor Jay Rabinowitz does a great job with creating some stylish cuts for the film while maintaining a fascinating rhythm for many of the conversation scenes that occur in the film. Rabinowitz also keeps a tight pace for each segment at around 20-25 minutes in total to bring enough moments for each story.

Sound designer Anthony J. Ciccolini III does an excellent job with the sound to capture the differing atmospheres of each city along with the intimacy of the cab conversations between the characters in the film. The film’s music by Tom Waits is superb as it is a wonderful mix of jazz and folk that includes different instruments to play to each city. Featuring a few songs written by Waits and wife Kathleen Brennan, Waits score is definitely a highlight of the film as the rest of the soundtrack includes additional music pieces from Davie Allan and Blue Cheer for the L.A. segment.

The big ensemble cast is truly magnificent as each segment provides something different for the film. In very small roles include Lisanne Falk as a manager for band that Corky had brought in the L.A. segment while Pascal N’Zonzi and Emile Abossolo M‘bo are good as the two passengers who annoy the driver in the Paris segment. In the Helsinki scenes, Tomi Salmela is good as the drunk passenger who is passed out while Kari Vaananen and Sakari Kuosmanen are excellent as the other passengers who starts to befriend the cab driver Mika following his story. Matti Pellonpaa is amazing as Mika, the Helsinki cab driver who maintains a stoic approach to his performance as he holds his emotions together during the drive. Paolo Bonacelli is wonderful as the ailing priest who is forced to listen to his driver’s confessions while Roberto Benigni is hilarious as the talkative Gino whose confessed sins prove to be too much in an otherwise dark but funny segment.

Beatrice Dalle is brilliant as the blind passenger who can feel things around her despite her blindness while Issach de Bankole is superb as the quiet driver who is fascinated by the presence of his blind passenger. Rosie Perez is very funny as the brash Angela who spouts all sorts of profanities towards her brother-in-law while being a bit nice towards Helmut. Giancarlo Esposito is also funny but charming as YoYo who tries to help Helmut about being a cab driver and showing him New York City while Armin Mueller-Stahl is phenomenal as the East German cab driver on his first day in amazement on the world around him. Winona Ryder and Gena Rowlands are spectacular as the two different women in L.A. who share their disgust about men while bonding over their differences in low-key but fun performances.

Night on Earth is a fascinating yet magical film from Jim Jarmusch. Armed with a diverse yet exhilarating ensemble cast of actors and in five different locations. It’s a film that truly chronicles the idea of how big the world is and despite the different nationalities, races, genders, and personalities shown in the film. These characters all will have a brief experience that is profound in a world as vast as this one. In the end, Jim Jarmusch creates a lively yet exciting film with Night on Earth.

Jim Jarmusch Films: Permanent Vacation - Stranger Than Paradise - Down By Law - Mystery Train - Dead Man - Year of the Horse - Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai - Coffee and Cigarettes - Broken Flowers - The Limits of Control - Only Lovers Left Alive - Paterson - Gimme Danger - (The Dead Don't Die) - The Auteurs #27: Jim Jarmusch

© thevoid99 2011