Mystery Train

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.

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

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."

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.

"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.