Mystery Train

Jim Jarmusch's follow-up to 1986's "Down By Law" is an engrossing trio of stories revolving around one night in a run-down Memphis hotel. Continuing his tradition of casting musicians as actors, he enlists Joe Strummer as a British Elvis and the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins as the hotel night clerk. R&B great Rufus Thomas appears in the train station, and Tom Waits is the voice of the radio DJ. John Lurie provides the score, along with a fabulous soundtrack of classic Memphis music (from Elvis Presley to the Bar-Kays). The stories are intertwined, with certain events being shown from the perspective of each of the three sets of characters. The town has fallen a bit since its heyday as a musical hotbed, but the spirits of its past can be sensed in the delapidated buildings and landscapes, all lovingly embraced by Jarmusch's lens. All of the night shots were actually filmed at night, and some scenes are subtitled in Japanese and Italian. As is typical with Jarmusch's work, the action unfolds at a leisurely pace, and not without some humor. The film's juxtaposing of cultures is a popular theme with the director, and one he would use again in his next anthology piece, "Night On Earth."

What a terrific film for us foreigners. The USA condensed into one bottle. Elvis, Screaming Jay Hawkins, a seedy hotel, an endless steamy night, the desolation, the Guide at the Sun Studios, the Japanese tourists: I don't want to say any more

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").

'Mystery Train' is probably the most entertaining, interesting and understated of indie-fave Jim Jarmusch's early work (i haven't seen 'Coffee and Cigarettes' yet). The films portrayal of Elvis' birthplace of Memphis, possibly one of the most featureless, gritty and desolate representations of urban America ever committed to film, is a deceptively clever and substantial take on American subcultures.

Without doubt, it is the first of the films three vignettes that makes the film stand out a little more than Jarmusch's other quirky offerings. Two Japanese tourists besotted with the King's legacy and 1950's American retro-culture in general, decide to visit Memphis, where they experience the superficiality his iconic status has been reduced to. The over-excitable and optimistic teenage girl, along with her more austere, cooler-than-cool boyfriend, are equally unimpressed with what the town has to offer. It's quite impressive that 15 years after its release, Jarmusch's depiction of alternative culture manages to capture the pretentious but proudly on-the-edges attitudes probably more apparent in today's retro-obsessed climate than ever before.

Jarmusch's signature eclectic cast is another reason for repeated viewing, the subtleties of, in particular, Steve Buscemi's stuttering and nervous performance, are worth looking out for. As is the linking theme of Elvis' ghost in all three vignettes, a brilliant example of how to take a simple theme, and continually parodize its implications until its every mention leads to some sort of in-joke. The cool, laid-back pace of the film allows the humour to hit you unexpectedly, and the timing is often genius. Very, very, very watchable.

Mystery Train is a moody and atmospheric gem surrounding a flea-bag Memphis hotel. Great performances are dished out (Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Cinque Lee are hilarious in an argument over exotic fruits from foreign lands) all around, but I favor the dynamic duo of Youki Kudoh and Masatoshi Nagase. Their characters are "far from Yokohama," but love will find its way to Tennessee. The lighting of a cigarette, an impressive t-shirt collection, an argument over the merits of Carl Perkins versus The King, the smearing of some crimson lipstick, and an exhilarating invitation to bed -- the minutiae of a special bond beyond mere chemistry. The combination of Nagase's dour, glowering sourpuss and Kudoh's charming, enthusiastic pixie makes for a volcanic cocktail.