Mystery Train (1989)
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.
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What critics compared Mystery Train to
“Tangerine” has a number of interlinked plot strands along with an episodic, anecdotal structure that reminded me a little of early Jim Jarmusch movies, especially “Mystery Train” and “Night on Earth.”
Whether it’s Mystery Train , Dead Man, Ghost Dog , The Limits of Control or Only Lovers Left Alive , they’re movies populated by self-contained, romantic (but rarely carnal) loners who inhabit strangely deserted and melancholy landscapes.
In his best work (“Stranger Than Paradise,” “Mystery Train,” the recent “Only Lovers Left Alive”), that undead Jarmusch pace was organic.
But unlike the strictly retro-cool vibe that some of Jarmusch’s earlier work has trafficked in (Mystery Train), this time out he’s nodding to a notion of 20th-century working-class pride, whether it’s the metal lunch pail that Paterson carries with him, or the faded brick factory walls he passes on his daily walk, or the near-utter lack of modern media.
And, towards the end of the film, a familiar face from Mystery Train appears to impart some words of wisdom to our bereft protagonist.
It’s also infused with the wry absurdity, deceptively modest aesthetics and rich cultural references that have marked Jarmusch’s work since he emerged as an early prince of indie film with “Stranger Than Paradise,” “Down by Law” and “Mystery Train” in the 1980s.
When he moved into colour with Mystery Train and Night on Earth, he brought something of William Eggleston ’s unnerving vision to the screen.
She's an artist, and he owns a recording studio; as Leo rambles on about the soulfulness of Scotty Moore's guitar picking on "Mystery Train," you can almost hear the screenwriters begging for street cred.
Trading Memphis for Detroit and Tangier, writer-director Jim Jarmusch (2005's " Broken Flowers ") has made a cool, laid-back, observational variation on his 1989 triptych, "Mystery Train."
“Only Lovers Left Alive” is something of a departure for writer-director Jim Jarmusch, who is best known for such films as “Stranger Than Paradise,” “Mystery Train” and “Night on Earth.”
The maker of Mystery Train and Down by Law knows how to create a mood of amiable neglect.
Here, the auteur of such gems as Mystery Train and Night on Earth foregoes the usual vampire-friendly settings of Transylvania, London and even New York to set his story in, of all places, Detroit.
Jarmusch (“Down By Law,” “Mystery Train”) has been a virtual god, if not immortal vampire, on the New York indie movie scene for what must seem like centuries to him and his longtime partner and fellow filmmaker Sara Driver.
The director who brought us “Night on Earth,” “Mystery Train” and “Broken Flowers” tells the story of a couple of undead lovers, together through the centuries, now separated by an ocean and half a continent.
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Filmmaker Jarmusch, best known for the much-better "Mystery Train" and "Night On Earth," among others, allows the excesses in "Dead Man" to get out of hand to the point that they become distracting - especially the gore.
For another, Dead Man's story is far darker than, say, Mystery Train (or any of the director's other films, for that matter).
The exemplar of Downtown Cool filmmaking ("Stranger Than Paradise," "Down By Law," "Mystery Train"), always gun-shy of genre, has made a Western.
…ranks as an unusual creative effort from writer/director Jarmusch (Mystery Train).
"Dead Man" is the latest deadpan comic meditation on America from writer-director Jim Jarmusch, whose low-budget "Mystery Train" (1989) seems likely to remain the best movie ever filmed in Memphis.