Mystery Train **** (1989, Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô, Nicoletta Braschi, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, Steve Buscemi) – Classic Movie Review 8201

Cult favourite Jim Jarmusch directs the 1989 comedy drama Mystery Train, a portmanteau film of three seemingly unrelated stories that come together satisfyingly in the last reel with the characters linked by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.

In the first story Far from Yokohama, a Japanese couple (Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô) comes to Memphis by train to pay homage to Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins.

In the second segment A Ghost, a rich Italian widow Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi) arrives in Memphis to take her husband’s body back to Rome and meets the ghost of Elvis.

And in the final part Lost in Space, an Englishman called Johnny (Joe Strummer of The Clash) gets drunk and shoots a bar owner.

All of the characters end up at the same tatty Memphis hotel and the mystery of the gunshot heard in the first two stories is solved.

Jarmusch’s stylish, enjoyable, slightly arty movie has a hip sense of humour in his quirky, funny screenplay, moody photography by Robby Müller and a notable score by John Lurie. It is one of Jarmusch’s best films.

The main cast are Masotoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee, Rufus Thomas, Jodie Markell, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth Bracco, Sy Richardson, Tom Noonan, Sara Driver, Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, Steve Buscemi, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Royale Johnson.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8201

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