Night on Earth [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

In this strangely compelling film, five entirely different cab rides in five locations around the world are shown unfolding simultaneously. Each ride is fraught with high drama; in one, an effusive Roman driver Roberto Benigni insists on confessing all his sexual encounters, including one with a sheep, to an extremely unwilling priest who inconveniently dies in his cab before his lengthy confession can be completed. Another story follows an encounter which puts the spunky rebel Winona Ryder in contact with the world-weary, matronly casting agent Gena Rowlands, who offers her young driver a chance to join the rich folks and become a movie star. Yet another story takes place between three drunken "celebrants" of a buddy's getting fired in snowy Helsinki, another takes place among African immigrants in Paris, and yet another takes place in New York. Each story strongly evokes a mood of time and place. Unlike most films by the experimental director Jim Jarmusch, this one enjoyed some (mild) popular as well as critical success.