Hack

By RICHARD CORLISS

TITLE: NIGHT ON EARTH

WRITER AND DIRECTOR: JIM JARMUSCH

THE BOTTOM LINE: Five taxis, five drivers, five fares, five cities, five stories, most of them going nowhere -- slowly.

JIM JARMUSCH IS SHRINKING. ALready a miniaturist in his Stranger Than Paradise (1984), this vaunted U.S. independent director now aspires to make shorts. Mystery Train (1989) was three anecdotes in search of narrative baling wire. His new Night on Earth splits its time five ways: taxi drivers pick up fares in Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rome, Helsinki. A little biography, a vagrant communion through the rearview mirror, then on to the next town. If Jarmusch keeps at it, he will become the first postpunk director of 30-second commercials.

His problem here is that the stories, characters and acting rarely justify even feuilleton treatment. The Hollywood agent (Gena Rowlands) who thinks her driver (Winona Ryder) could be a star; the Brooklyn bro (Giancarlo Esposito) who bonds with his German-born cabbie (Armin Mueller-Stahl); the blind Parisian (Beatrice Dalle) who, sigh, sees life more clearly than the African (Isaach De Bankole) in the front seat; the Finnish depressive (Matti Pellonpaa) who relates a you-think-you-got-troubles saga -- these are shaggy- dog stories without a tail. Or, really, a tale.

The Rome episode is the saver, with Italian movie clown Roberto Benigni effusively confessing his sexual adventures (with a pumpkin, a sheep, a sister-in-law) to a shocked priest. And the glimpses of the cities, beautifully shot by Frederick Elmes (Blue Velvet), suggest there might be stories to complement the ghostly landscapes. But Jarmusch gooses his fine performers to overact in close-up, as if to compensate for the paucity of event. The result is something like the ultimate minimalist international co- production. All those places to go, and hardly an inviting cab in sight.