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Jim Jarmusch's deadpan comedy-of-the-night is a collection of five vignettes taking place in the enclosed space of a cab ride, each occurring on the same night in five different cities -- Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, and Helsinki. The Los Angeles episode takes place at dusk, as high-powered casting agent Victoria (Gena Rowlands) gets a ride from L.A. International Airport with tomboy driver Corky (Winona Ryder), who would rather go on driving her cab than take up Victoria's offer to make her a superstar.
In New York City, novice East German cabbie Helmut Grokenberger (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has difficulty working the foot pedals to his hack and his passenger, YoYo (Giancarlo Esposito), ends up driving himself to Brooklyn, picking up the shrill-voiced Angela (Rosie Perez) along the way. In Paris, an African cab driver (Isaach De Bankole) ejects a collection of drunken African diplomats from his cab and picks up a beautiful but surly blind girl (Beatrice Dalle).
In Rome, cab driver Gino (Roberto Benigni) engages in a heartfelt monologue confessing his past sexual exploits to his passenger, a priest. As the revelations become increasingly bizarre, moving from masturbation with a pumpkin on to affectionate intercourse with a favourite sheep called Lola, the priest slowly dies of a heart attack. Before he does so, however, the taxi passes a couple of transvestite hookers in the street and Gino stops to discuss with them how bad business is, for taxi drivers and for transvestite hookers. They are played by Antonino Ragusa and Gianni Schettino.
The film winds down in the last melancholy vignette, taking place in Helsinki, as taxi driver Mika (Matti Pellonpaa) picks up three inebriated workmen who regale Mika with hard luck stories. But Mika has a much harsher story of his own to tell....
It's a fun film if you can handle black humour.
HF December 2007
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