At the Sydney Film Festival
Night on Earth
Written, Directed and Produced by Jim Jarmusch
Starring Winona Ryder, Giancarlo Esposito, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Roberte Benigni
Reviewed by Ulrike Erhardt
Night on Earth, one of many offerings at the Sydney Film Festival (June 4-19), is five self-contained stories set in taxis in five different cities. The stories range from the contrived (Winona Ryder dealing with a high flier of Beverly Hills in an unconventional manner) to downright absurd (German Armin Mueller-Stahl takes turns in New York with Yo-Yo, a black passenger who is distracted by his sister-in-law from hell).
We are also taken to Paris, where two black ambassadors take the micky out of the cab driver, who in turn lets off steam with a blind passenger. Predictably, it's a priest in Rome who has problems coping with a man playing the devil's advocate with verve.
Helsinki is a more disappointing stopover with a rather overdone sob-story.
Night on Earth caters for the traveller and the voyeur in all of us, and the photography will increase tourism to all five cities. If you ignore the dopey ballad which greets and farewells you, this inexpensive, entertaining and safe trip around the world will be pleasing.
Dave Wright writes that Children of Nature is the second feature film for Iceland's Fridrick Thor Fridriksson. It tells the sentimental tale of an old farmer who journeys back to the land of his youth. The story is quite slow paced, but Iceland's rugged landscape provides a breathtaking backdrop to the film.