Mystery Train [DVD] [1989]

I don't think that Jim Jarmusch has ever made a bad film, sure Dead Man in the wrong mood is a bit dull & Year of the Horse is only appealing if you find epic guitar solos played by grizzled 50somethings appealing, but he more than warrants his place in US cinema.

Mystery Train was the follow-up to his early works, the student feature Permanent Vacation (once shown on Channel4, who like to show repeats of Graham Norton now instead), 1984's debut proper Stranger Than Paradise & its follow-up Down By Law- which was another joy featuring Tom Waits & Roberto Benigni.

Mystery Train is a film that few appear to be aware of- facets such as it's structure, the quirky fools who occur, the ghost of Elvis & its hotel locale will be familiar to viewers of Tarantino's True Romance and (especially) Pulp Fiction. Here we get three stories set in Memphis, the film beginning with the arrival of a train & ending with its departing to the classic Elvis song of the same name. Story #1 sees Jarmusch employ his love of world cinema- looking at Memphis through Foreign eyes, we follow a Japanese couple (Masatoshi Nagase & Youki Kudoh) as they come to the home of Elvis. They visit Sun studios, argue about who was more important: Elvis or Carl Perkins, smoke cigarettes & eventually arrive at a sleazy downtown hotel (where the night clerk & bellboy are Screamin' Jay Hawkins & Cinque Lee- who connect the stories). They then settle in for the night, an almost surreal scene occurs where Nagase puts on his girlfiend's make-up. & later, a shot rings out...

The second story is like an inversion of Billy Wilder's Avanti, Benigni's wife Nicoletta Braschi plays an Italian window transporting her husband's body home- having to stay for a night in Memphis, she is grifted for a shaggy dog story about Elvis as a ghost-hitchhiker, prior to coming across a slighted girlfriend of a character from the third story- they both decide to split a room in the same downtown hotel, where the ghost of Elvis appears and a shot rings out...

Finally the third story sees the wonderful Steve Buscemi go to the aid of his sister's jilted boyfriend- played by the late, great Joe Strummer. There are some knowing references to Strummer's Elvis hairstyle & him being a Brit & along with Rufus Thomas, the three go on an adventure that leads to armed robbery, that leads to a hotel where a shot will ring out & the stories all converge...

Mystery Train is an excellent film, another of Jarmusch's great films fit to stand next to his early work & such later joys as Night on Earth, Dead Man & Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai. Added to that, the soundtrack has a great version of 'I've Put a Spell On You' by Tom Waits. There's a difference between Tarantino & Jarmusch- the former is just an imitator, the latter is a pioneer. This film demonstrates why...

From the second Amtracks' Texas Eagle comes curving along the line, to the sound of perhaps "The King" greatest Sun City recording, you know your in for real slice authentic Americana. What you don't expect is just how darkley funny and absoubing haunting this "Mystery" journey into Americas' deep south underbelly actually is. An unwelcoming neon lit,run down Hotel in an equally seedy Memphis suburb brings together the lives and stories of two Japanesse tourists, hoplessly out of place, Sreaming Jay Hawkins, Joe Strummer and the always brilliant Steve Buscemi to wonderful effect. Highly recommended.

I've amended this review slightly since first writing it, see the footnote below, but I'm leaving it otherwise as was, for reasons I hope readers will understand.

I'd give 'Mystery Train' an unreserved 5 stars as a film, but I'm reducing that to 3 stars on account of the DVD release I received from Amazon (on MGM Home Ent) having no subtitles (I've read that the same is apparently also true of a release of Jarmusch's 'Night On Earth' DVD, but thankfully I found that out before shelling out for it).

I saw this fabulous film at the cinema when it came out, and the first mini-story with the Japanese couple is a wonderful and heartwarmingly deadpan bit of comedy; their dialogue is superb. My dissappointment at discovering this edition has no subtitles was therefore huge, and it more or less ruins the film for me. If you understand (or are) Japanese you'll have no problem. Why on earth have they omitted subtitles on DVD? It seems insane to me. If you love Jarmusch as I do, then write to MGM and ask them to amend this stupid oversight. I'm certainly not buying 'Night On Earth' until a subtitled edition is available.

FOOTNOTE

Just to clarify something, and in response to some comments about my review: this review was written when I received a copy of Mystery train (via an Amazon order), which was a Region 1 MGM Home Ent version, and *quite emphatically* does not have the subtitles I require: English subtitles for the Japanese language section of the film. It does have French and Spanish subtitles for entire film, but this still doesn't allow me to see the Japanese section of the film as I saw it at the cinema, i.e with English subtitles. I've played the DVD on around five different players, and several computers, and on none of them can I get the required subtitles. This obviously upset me, and rather spoiled my enjoyment of a film I love. I subsequently bought another version (at my local Fopp store, and with an assurance I could return it if not satisfied, i.e. if I got home and found that it also lacked the necessary subtitles), a region 2 DVD, also on MGM Home Entertainment, that does have English subtitles. The purpose of my review was, and remains, simply to alert people to the fact there are versions of Mystery Train out there - I know, 'cause I own one - that simply do not have the appropriate English subtitles in the 'Far from Yokohama' section.