Mystery Train (1989)

August 15, 2022 6:14 PM

A seedy hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, provides the backdrop for three separate tales, featuring everything from a kitsch-obsessed Japanese couple (Masatoshi Nagase, Yuki Kudo) to a trio of amateur robbers (Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, Steve Buscemi) who discover the true nature of their relationship during a botched heist. Linking the stories together is the hotel's eccentric night clerk (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) as well as the spirit of Elvis Presley.

Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.

89% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on Criterion. Also available for digital rental via Amazon.

posted by DirtyOldTown (7 comments total)

Jiffy Squid!? Turn that damn thing off!
posted by talking leaf at 6:38 PM on August 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Lots of fun to watch for someone (i.e. me) who moved to Memphis six or so years after this was shot. Some familiar faces in the movie; this guy ended up being the judge at my divorce hearing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:40 PM on August 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

This is my all time favourite movie. The movie poster in this post is one I have framed in my home office as a gift from my husband a few birthdays ago!
posted by Kitteh at 6:04 AM on August 16, 2022 [3 favorites]

Screamin' Jay Hawkins was so good in this, just a truly idiosyncratic oddball. As someone who followed his career, it seems less like Jarmusch created a character for him and more like he invited Hawkins in to do his Hawkins thing. To the benefit of the film, too.

I'm a huge fan of Hawkins' late career release Black Music for White People which is a great record in and of itself, but also a positively savage title.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:06 AM on August 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

Kitteh, it's also MY all-time favorite movie. I really have always wanted to take Amtrak up to Memphis from Dallas, never tried to plot the trip out IRL. Maybe it's time I finally did that so I can look for a hitchhiker that's strangely reminiscent of The King...

Jarmusch can be really polarizing. I love his work, but if I'm going to introduce someone who's unfamiliar with his oeuvre, this is usually the film I point them to.

Less slow/draggy than some of his others, ripe with humor, pop-culture references and a great showcase of Joe Strummer's acting chops before he passed away far too early in this life, IMO.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins is just the cherry on top. This is a love poem written out of nostalgia for an America that only ever existed in our imaginations.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2022

I loved this movie so much when it came out that I am afraid to rewatch it.
posted by acrasis at 5:27 PM on August 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

I watched this on a Cinemax free weekend (remember those?). I boarded this train for the possibility of nudity, and I stayed because it was like nothing I’d never seen before. Like acrasis, I too am reluctant to watch it again, fearing that it won’t be as novel or engrossing as it was when I was 11… but if I can watch Back to the Future almost forty years after my first viewing and still find new insights and delights, this one ought to be a no-brainer.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:43 AM on August 21, 2022