Mystery Train (film)
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| Mystery Train | |
|---|---|
 Poster for Mystery Train |
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| Directed by | Jim Jarmusch |
| Produced by | Jim Stark |
| Written by | Jim Jarmusch |
| Starring | Youki Kudoh Screamin' Jay Hawkins Nicoletta Braschi Joe Strummer Steve Buscemi |
| Music by | John Lurie |
| Cinematography | Robbie Müller |
| Editing by | Melody London |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | May 1989 (Cannes Film Festival) November 7, 1989 (USA) |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Language | English Italian Japanese |
| Budget | $2,800,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Mystery Train is a 1989 portmanteau film written and directed by independent film director Jim Jarmusch and set in Memphis, Tennessee. The Film is comprised of three different stories set on the same night. They are linked by one run-down hotel run by Night Clerk (played by Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and his dishevelled bellboy Cinque Lee, a scene featuring Elvis Presley's "Blue Moon" and a gunshot.
[edit] Plot
The first story, "A Long Way From Yokohama", features a teenage couple from Yokohama, Japan--Mitzuko and Jun--travelling across America. They have made an almost holy pilgrimage to Memphis. Mitzuko is obsessed with Elvis Presley, and even, in one scene "deduces" that Elvis was the basis for Madonna and the Statue Of Liberty. Their story follows their holiday, including an exhaustive trip to Sun Records and the film's sex scene. Their story also features a cameo by legend Rufus Thomas as an old man in a train station.
The second story, "A Ghost", follows a stop-over with an Italian Widow (possibly Mafia), Luisa, escorting her husband's coffin back to Italy. Stuck in Memphis for the night (after being conned twice and stuck with armfuls of magazines), she is forced to share a room with Dee Dee, a young woman who talks constantly. When Dee Dee does finally shut up and get to sleep, Luisa still doesn't get any sleep, after a visit from Memphis' most famous export...Elvis Presley.
In the final story, "Lost In Space", we get to meet Dee Dee's husband, Johnny (aka Elvis, much to his chagrin) played by former Clash front-man Joe Strummer. Having drunk himself silly after losing his job and brandishing a gun, Johnny, along with his buddy Will Robinson (former stand-up comic Rick Aviles) and brother-in-law Charlie (Steve Buscemi), robs a liquor store, wounding severely the owner in the process, and spends the night hiding out in the hotel getting drunk. This results in Charlie getting shot in the leg, only to find out that Johnny isn't his real brother-in-law. Come morning the three escape a police car that isn't even looking for them.
[edit] Trivia
- Jim Jarmusch's wife Sara Driver makes an appearance in the movie as an airport clerk.
- Tom Waits makes a voice appearance as the radio DJ
[edit] External links
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