Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.
Jim Jarmusch's anthology of five taxi-ride vignettes across global cities on a single night is a singular piece of filmmaking. The episodic structure, deadpan humor, and multicultural tapestry give it a genuinely distinctive voice — each segment has its own rhythm and language, anchored by a superb ensemble including Winona Ryder, Roberto Benigni, and Isaach De Bankolé delivering memorable, naturalistic performances. Cinematography by Frederick Elmes is functional and intimate rather than showy, keeping the camera inside cramped cabs to reinforce the confined-space intimacy. The plot is deliberately minimal and slice-of-life, which suits the tone but limits dramatic stakes. The Helsinki segment ending is the most emotionally resonant, but the quintet of endings is uneven across segments. Novelty is high: no one else was making films quite like this, with this wandering, multilingual, humanist sensibility.