Night on Earth

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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NIGHT ON EARTH

More overlooked movies to watch at home: the funniest and saddest movie – all in one – and two jaw-dropping documentaries. Plus an amazingly charismatic star in a classic noir…from Poland! Scroll down for remembrances of Jerry Stiller and Little Richard.

ON VIDEO

SPACESHIP EARTH, Courtesy of Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth: The latest from Silicon Valley native filmmaker Matt Wolf, this documentary traces an audacious scientific quasi-experiment of the 1990s, the Biosphere 2, perhaps the Last Stand of the Renaissance Man. Just released this weekend, Spaceship Earth can be streamed from iTunes, Hulu, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Cold Case Hammarskjöld: This eccentric and irresistible documentary purports to solve a historical mystery, buts it”s an excuse for the filmmaker to hop around Africa talking to aged fixers and mercenaries. It’s both an investigatory documentary and a send-up of the genre. Available on most streaming platforms.

Night on Earth: this Jim Jarmusch indie has one of the very funniest scenes and one of the very saddest scenes – in the same movie.  Night on Earth is comprised of five vignettes, each in a taxi and each in a different city: Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and, of all places, Helsinki. It’s now available to stream from the Criterion Collection and Amazon. Do not confuse this 1991 Jarmusch film with the 2020 miniseries of the same name.

Ashes and Diamonds: This Polish thriller is one of my Overlooked Noir. A masterful director and his charismatic star make this a Can’t Miss. Last week I wrote when Turner Classic Movies aired it, but if you missed it, you can stream Ashes and Diamonds from Amazon and iTunes.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

On May 16, Turner Classic Movies will air The Crimson Kimono, another sensationalistic and deliciously exploitative cop noir from the great Sam Fuller.  Always looking to add some shock value, Fuller delivered a Japanese-American leading man (James Shigeta), an inter-racial romance and a stripper victim.  The groundbreaking aspect of The Crimson Kimono is that Fuller’s writing and Shigeta’s performance normalized the Japanese-American character.  This film is on my list of Overlooked Noir.

James Shigeta (Right) in THE CRIMSON KIMONO

REMEMBRANCES

Jerry Stiller, along with his wife and professional partner Anne Meara (scroll down), was a comedy pioneer. He’s best remembered for playing George Costanza’s father on TV’s Seinfeld and for being Ben Stiller’s real life dad. But Stiller sandwiched some good work in movies (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Ritz, Hairspray) between the early and later phases of his work.

The Rock pioneer Little Richard has died. I fondly remember his hilarious turn in Down and Out in Beverly Hills as the neighbor to Richard Dreyfus’ family, Orvis Goodnight. He appeared in one of the very first rock n roll movies Don’t Knock the Rock (1956), a same-year followup to Rock Around the Clock. His music was featured in hundred of films and television shows.

NIGHT ON EARTH – the funniest and the saddest

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NIGHT ON EARTH in Rome

Night on Earth has one of the very funniest scenes and one of the very saddest scenes – in the same movie.  Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1991, Night on Earth is comprised of five vignettes, each in a taxi and each in a different city: Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and, of all places, Helsinki.

Moving west to east across the time zones, Night on Earth opens with the contrast between a working class driver (Wynona Ryder) and a striver executive (Gena Rowlands) and how they connect – or don’t.

Then we move to New York where a totally disoriented East German immigrant (Armin Mueller-Stahl) gets a job driving a hack (on his first or second day in the US) and picks up potty-mouthed passengers (Giancarlo Esposito and Rosie Perez).

The LA and NYC scenes are good, but Night on Earth really accelerates in Paris when an African immigrant driver (Isaach De Bankolé) picks up a blind woman (the gap-toothed beauty Béatrice Dall). They both are a bit touchy and immediately get underneath each others skins. The prickly conversation that follows teaches each a little about the other.

Now we get to perhaps the funniest episode in the movies (yes, I mean in the history of cinema).   A manic, motormouth Roman cabbie (Roberto Benigni) picks up an ailing Catholic cleric and regales him with an unwanted stream of consciousness confession, highlighting his own ever more inappropriate sexual partners, including a pumpkin and a sheep. It’s a rapid fire comedic assault sure to convulse any audience.

Finally, in Helsinki, two guys toss their passed-out buddy into a cab, and explain that he’s had the worst day ever – he has lost his job just when he has a wife looking for a divorce and a pregnant daughter. But the driver (Matti Pellonpää) tells them a story that tops it. Profound sadness.

The cult director and indie favorite Jarmusch made Night on Earth in 1991 after he first made a splash with Mystery Train.  He followed it with Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Coffee and Cigarettes, Broken Flowers and Paterson.  Night on Earth is one of the few movies that I own on DVD, and it’s now available from the Criterion Collection.  But you can now stream it from Amazon. Go for it. Do not confuse this 1991 Jarmusch film with the 2020 miniseries of the same name.

NIGHT ON EARTH in Paris

coming up on TV: NIGHT ON EARTH

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NIGHT ON EARTH in Rome

Coming up on Turner Classic Movies on September 8 is Night on Earth, with one of the very funniest scenes and one of the very saddest scenes in the same movie.  Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, Night on Earth is comprised of five vignettes each in a taxi and each in a different city: Los Angeles, New York, Paris Rome and, of all places, Helsinki.

Moving west to east across the time zones, Night on Earth opens with the contrast between a working class driver (Wynona Ryder) and a striver executive (Gena Rowlands) and how they connect – or don’t.

Then we move to New York where a totally disoriented East German immigrant (Armin Mueller-Stahl) gets a job driving a hack (on his first or second day in the US) and picks up potty-mouthed passengers (Giancarlo Esposito and Rosie Perez).

The LA and NYC scenes are good, but Night on Earth really accelerates in Paris when an African immigrant driver (Isaach De Bankolé) picks up a blind woman (the gap-toothed beauty Béatrice Dall). They are both a bit touchy and immediately get underneath each others skins. The prickly conversation that follows teaches each a little about the other.

Now we get to perhaps the funniest episode in the movies (yes, I mean in the history of cinema).   A manic, motormouth Roman cabbie (Roberto Benigni) picks up an ailing Catholic cleric and regales him with an unwanted stream of consciousness confession, highlighting his own ever more inappropriate sexual partners, including a pumpkin and a sheep. It’s a rapid fire comedic assault sure to convulse any audience.

Finally, in Helsinki, two guys toss their passed-out buddy into a cab, and explain that he’s had the worst day ever – he has lost his job just when he has a wife looking for a divorce and a pregnant daughter. But the driver (Matti Pellonpää) tells them a story that tops it. Profound sadness.

The cult director and indie favorite Jarmusch made Night on Earth in 1991 after he first made a splash with Mystery Train.  He followed it with Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Coffee and Cigarettes, Broken Flowers and last year’s Paterson.  Night on Earth is one of the few movies that I own on DVD, and it’s now available from the Criterion Collection.  But you can see it Friday on TCM. Go for it.

NIGHT ON EARTH in Paris