Mystery Train

In "Mystery Train", Jim Jarmusch does with Memphis what he would later do with taxis in "Night on Earth". In this case, various tourists (including from Japan and Italy) have made pilgrimages to Memphis to see where Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, etc, recorded. Unfortunately, Sun Studios is in the middle of a dilapidated ghetto. A really good scene shows a woman walking through this ghetto, while the affluent downtown appears in the background. It is true that Jim Jarmusch is an acquired taste, but "Mystery Train" will probably appeal to more people if only because of the soundtrack. It has one of the neatest soundtracks that I've ever heard. Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, Steve Buscemi, Rick Aviles, Joe Strummer, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth Bracco and Screamin' Jay Hawkins all put on some great performances, with Tom Waits as the radio announcer. This is one great movie!

"Mystery Train" is a witty look at different aspects of one of the crazes of our time, the worship of Elvis Presley. The cast includes cult performers like Tom Noonan (the serial killer in Michael Mann's "Manhunter"), Steve Buscemi, and singer Tom Waits (heard on the radio), and it is directed by one of America's leading independent directors. "Mystery Train" is possibly Jim Jarmusch's most immaculate film, and though the movie gets steadily darker in its comic tone, it is his least bleak work to date. The patterning is precise, the film growing richer as the three strands are finally woven together, or perhaps unwoven, as the characters go their separate ways. Robbie Muller, the great Dutch cameraman who shot Alex Cox's "Repo Man" and Wim Wenders' "Paris, Texas", once more brings an outsider's perspective to the American landscape, giving the night scenes and hotel interiors a Hopperesque look and endowing a dilapidated section of Memphis with an elegaic sadness.

source: Mystery Train

Trailer—Mystery Train

Mystery Train

Quirky trio of tales loosely interlaced around a poor section of Memphis. This was a very offbeat film which really didn't go anywhere but was still interesting and amusing. I appreciated all the super cool action with the zippo, particularly by the oriental dude. Very different, check it out.

jim jarmusch affects his viewers in curious ways. in mystery train, he presents a series of situations, sometimes filled with off-beat humor, sometimes filled with tenderness, and, in one instance, characterized by one violent moment. on the whole, every moment is affecting, every moment is moving. jarmusch sees the world with such sensitivity and humor, such affection; there is no place for cynics or satirists. jarmusch has never emphasized technical virtuosity. his virtuosity, rather, is his ability to place characters who he obviously cares for in situations which endear them to the audience, his ability to show, with simple gestures and moments (like mitzuko's unorthodox cigarette lighting technique) our beauty, humanity's beauty, is our idiosyncracy and differences. steven soderbergh states that technical perfection is not as important as cinematic energy. jarmusch films have energy; it quiet, polite, lovely energy, but energy nonetheless.

Jarmusch does a masterful job weaving three stories, portraying simultaneity of action, building a mood and creating believable characters. All the things that Tarrentino would later get credit for in Pulp Fiction are done here and better. The stories move at less than break-neck pace, so if you need action all the time this is not your film. But a belief in the reality of the world, and a compassion for the characters is wonderfully realized. Because each of the three stories has it's on rhythm, conflict and characters, some will be drawn more to one part of the trilogy than another. The wonder of this, the mastery shown, is when contrasted with other, lesser writers who attempt this but have three stories all with the same tone - for example in Sin City where everyone acts the same. I loved Mystery Train (as I had Down by Law). Bapu says check it out.

Mystery Train is the type of movie that is over before you know it. Serious and funny at the same time. I like the layout of the picture, how all the people's live inter-mingled without touching each other and time started over when the next group of people started their adventure. Made in 1989, this movie still lives today, just like Elvis! Actually, this movie will be around for a very long time. With quirky being the "norm" for TV and movies now, it fits into the current movie atmosphere even more. I think this one fell in between the time of Twin Peaks & Northern Exposure on network TV and Six Feet Under and Dead Like Me on cable movie channels. This one ranks way up there with Momento as one of my favorite movies.

Three stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley. I love how this film takes for granted the universality of Elvis -- he is not only synonymous with Memphis, but is well known to both Americans and foreigners (Italians and Japanese, in this film). Indeed, director Jarmusch points out that with our crumbling American culture (his words, not mine) all that our culture ever offered was musicians and movie stars. American culture is not opera, painting or theater (though we may have these things) -- it is Elvis and Hollywood. Throw in Steve Buscemi to an already great film, and you have gold. There is no film he cannot make better (even rather lackluster ones like "Floundering").