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Mystery Train (film)
Encyclopedia
Mystery Train is a 1989 independent anthology film
written and directed by Jim Jarmusch
and set in Memphis, Tennessee
. The film comprises a triptych
of stories involving foreign protagonists unfolding over the course of the same night. "Far From Yokohama" features a Japanese couple (played by Youki Kudoh
and Masatoshi Nagase
) on a blues pilgrimage, "A Ghost" focuses on an Italian widow (Nicoletta Braschi
) stranded in the city overnight, and "Lost In Space" follows the misadventure of a newly single and unemployed Englishman (Joe Strummer
) and his companions (Rick Aviles
and Steve Buscemi
). They are linked by a run-down flophouse overseen by a night clerk (played by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
) and his dishevelled bellboy (Cinqué Lee), a scene featuring Elvis Presley
's "Blue Moon
", and a gunshot.
The starting point for the script was the ensemble cast of friends and previous collaborators Jarmusch had conceived characters for, while the tripartite formal structure of the film was inspired by his study of literary forms. Cinematographer Robby Müller
and musician John Lurie
were among the many contributors who had been involved in earlier Jarmusch projects and returned to work on the film. Mystery Trains US$2.8 million budget (financed by Japanese conglomerate JVC
) was considerable compared to what the director had enjoyed before, and allowed him the freedom to rehearse many unscripted background scenes. It was the first of Jarmusch's feature films to depart from his trademark black-and-white
photography, though the use of color was tightly controlled to conform with the director's intuitive sense of the film's aesthetic.
Mystery Train was released theatrically by Orion Classics
under a restricted rating in the United States, where it grossed over $1.5 million. It enjoyed critical acclaim on the film festival circuit, and like the director's earlier films premiered at the New York Film Festival
and was shown in competition at Cannes
, where Jarmusch was awarded the Best Artistic Achievement Award. The film was also shown in the Edinburgh, London, Midnight Sun, Telluride, and Toronto film festivals, and was nominated in six categories at the Independent Spirit Awards
. Critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers praising the structure, humor, and characters of the film, though there were discontented rumblings that the director had not been sufficiently adventurous.
.
The first story, "Far From Yokohama", features Mitsuko (Youki Kudoh) and Jun (Masatoshi Nagase), a teenage couple from Yokohama
making a pilgrimage to Memphis
during a trip across America. Mitsuko is obsessed with Elvis to the point where she believes that there is a mystical connection between Elvis, Madonna
and the Statue of Liberty
. The film follows the couple as they travel from the train station, through downtown Memphis and an exhausting tour of Sun Records
, to the Arcade hotel.
The second story, "A Ghost", is about an Italian widow, Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi), who is stranded in Memphis while escorting her husband's coffin back to Italy. Luisa, who has been conned twice and stuck with armfuls of magazines, is forced to share a room at the hotel with Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco
), a young woman who has just left her boyfriend (Johnny from the final story) and who plans to leave the city in the morning. Luisa is kept awake by Dee Dee's constant talking, and when the young woman finally does go to sleep, she is visited by an apparition of Memphis' most famous icon – Elvis Presley.
The final story, "Lost In Space", introduces Johnny (Joe Strummer). Upset after losing his job and his girlfriend (Dee Dee from the second story), Johnny – known, much to his chagrin, as Elvis – drunkenly brandishes a gun in a bar before leaving with his friend Will Robinson (Rick Aviles) and his ex-girlfriend's brother Charlie (Steve Buscemi), who believes Johnny to be his brother-in-law. They stop at a liquor store, which Johnny robs using the gun and severely wounds the owner in the process. Fearing the consequences of the incident, Johnny, Will and Charlie retire to the hotel to hide out for the night; there, Johnny gets further drunk. Charlie realizes that Will shares the same name as the character Will Robinson from the television show Lost in Space
, which Johnny has never heard of. Charlie and Will proceed to tell him about the show, and Will comments that that is how he feels then with Charlie and Johnny: lost in space. The next morning, Charlie discovers that Johnny isn't really his brother-in-law, which angers him because of what they've been through. Johnny attempts to shoot himself, and while struggling to prevent him, Charlie is shot in the leg. Leaving the hotel, the three rush to escape a police car that isn't even looking for them. The closing credits show the train, the airport and the final views of the characters from the first two stories.
(1986). The play – unrelated to Elvis or Memphis – concerned a constantly argumentative young couple, one of whom gradually comes to realize that their fighting is a unifying force in the relationship. The interconnected stories were inspired by Jarmusch's dwelling on literary forms, and specifically the work of Chaucer, Italian episodic films and Japanese ghost story cinema. As with his other films, Jarmusch's starting point for writing Mystery Train was the actors and characters he had foremost in mind. The great number of these collaborators contributed to it being "the most complicated film to write and execute" according to the director.
The role of Johnny was written by Jarmusch specifically for Joe Strummer, who had been the frontman of The Clash
, the director's favorite 1980s rock band. Jarmusch had conceived the part a few years previously while the two were together in Spain, and although the musician had been in a period of depression at the time following the collapse of the band, he was drawn by the Memphis setting of the film. Unlike the jovial Steve Buscemi
, Strummer did not stay on set to joke with the veteran actors between shots, but instead preferred to keep his own company, focusing intensively on orienting himself to the role.
Jarmusch had met blues singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins after featuring his music prominently in his breakthrough feature film debut Stranger Than Paradise
(1984). Although reticent about acting, Hawkins responded favorably to the director's offer to appear. The part of Luisa was also written by the director with the star – actress Nicoletta Braschi – in mind; the two had previously collaborated on Down by Law
(1986). Cinqué Lee is the younger brother of director Spike Lee
, a longtime friend of Jarmusch from their days at New York University
's film school, while Youki Kudoh was cast after the director saw her performance in Sōgo Ishii
's The Crazy Family
(1984) while promoting Down by Law in Japan. Repeat Jarmusch collaborators who worked on the film included John Lurie
who provided the original music, cinematographer Robby Müller
, and singer Tom Waits
, who in a voice appearance reprised his role of radio DJ Lee Baby Sims from Down by Law. Other cameos include Jarmusch's long-time girlfriend Sara Driver
as an airport clerk, Rufus Thomas
as the man in the train station who greets the Japanese couple, Rockets Redglare
as the clerk of the liquor store, Vondie Curtis-Hall
as Ed, Sy Richardson
as the news vendor, and Richard Boes and Tom Noonan
as diner patrons.
: "Man, ... this crossroad is filled with so many ghosts. You know Robert Johnson walked down that street, you know Muddy Waters was in that train station." The locale of the intersection was one of the film's primary formal elements; the effect of Jarmusch returning to the setting with different characters under different circumstances was one of variations on a theme.
The film was shot in bright, primary colors rather than the black-and-white
of the director's previous features, but it retained his usual languid pacing. Jarmusch characterized the color choice as "intuitive". He deliberately chose a cool color palette, eschewing yellows and oranges and using only sporadic dashes of red (as in the Japanese couple's ubiquitous suitcase). This motif of flashes of red was later described by Suzanne Scott of Reverse Shot as "giving the impression of a failed attempt to grab a bit of Elvis’s glamor and try it on for size, only to inevitably discover that it looks cartoonish out of context". Stills from the film as well as on-location shots of the actors and the film crew by photographer Masayoshi Sukita were published to accompany the film as the photo collection Mystery Train: A Film by Jim Jarmusch.
Mystery Train was the first American independent film to be financed by Japanese conglomerate JVC
, and was produced on a budget – $2.8 million – that was considerable by Jarmusch's modest standards. The company was enthusiastic about underwriting the film despite the director insisting on retaining full creative control, and went on to fund his next three features. The substantial budget and time available gave Jarmusch the opportunity to shoot in color and to rehearse with the actors many scenes not in the script, including several from the courtship of Mitsuko and Jun. At a Memphis nightclub with the Japanese actors during production, the director had Masatoshi Nagase
– who spoke little English but was an accomplished mimic – try chat-up lines on the female clientele as an acting exercise. Jarmusch took advantage of the production to make the second installment of his Coffee and Cigarettes
series, a collection of short vignettes featuring acquaintances of the director sitting about drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. The "Memphis Version", titled Twins, starred bickering twins Cinqué and Joie Lee
alongside Steve Buscemi as an obtuse waiter who expounds his theory of Elvis having an evil twin
to a hostile reception.
in the United States, where it was released under an R-rating due to scenes featuring brief nudity and mild profanity. Its total domestic gross was $1,541,218, making it the 153rd highest-grossing film of 1989, and the 70th highest R-rated film of the year. Internationally, it was first shown in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival
on May 13 and 14, 1989, and subsequently featured in the Edinburgh
, London
, Midnight Sun
, Telluride
and Toronto
film festivals.
Mystery Train was released on DVD on March 28, 2000 with an aspect ratio
of 1.85:1 and Dolby Digital
5.1/2 surround sound. The DVD release was criticized by Anna Lazowski of allmovie who awarded it two stars out of five compared to four for the film itself, citing the paltry special features of 24 scene selections and a collectible behind-the-scenes booklet. A Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray were released on June 15, 2010, utilizing a new restored high-definition digital transfer.
and Jarmusch was commended for the festival's Best Artistic Achievement. It was nominated in six categories at the 1989 Independent Spirit Awards
: Best Picture, Best Screenplay (Jim Jarmusch), Best Director (Jim Jarmusch), Best Cinematography (Robby Müller), Best Actress (Youki Kudoh), and Best Supporting Actor (Steve Buscemi and Screamin' Jay Hawkins).
Entertainment Weekly reviewer Ira Robbins gave the film a B+ rating, complimenting it as "conceptually ambitious" and concluding that its "offbeat characters, fine cinematography, and novel structure make for entertaining viewing". Robert Fulford of The National Post hailed it as "eccentric and deliriously funny", while Rolling Stone
s Phil Whitman remarked that the director's "bracing, original comedy may be mostly smoke and air, but it's not insubstantial". In The New York Times, Vincent Canby
called it "thoroughly fascinating, a delight" and the director's best effort to date, drawing note to its retention of the "same kind of dour, discordant charm" exhibited by Stranger Than Paradise. He praised Jarmusch's development as a screenwriter – citing the restrained dialogue, humor and subtlety of the narrative and the careful construction of the plot – and the performances he elicited from the ensemble cast. John Hartl, in The Seattle Times
, also drew a comparison with Stranger Than Paradise, judging Mystery Train to be the more accessible work while retaining the dry wit of its predecessor.
Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
was unimpressed with the film, calling it Jarmusch's "least engaging, and the first in which his bohemian posturing actually becomes an irritant". Of the film's characters, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
of the Chicago Reader wrote that some were "beautifully imagined and realized, while others seem drawn from a more familiar stockpile, designed for reuse rather than discovery". David Denby
, concluding a mixed review of the film for New York Magazine, mused that "one feels Jarmusch has pushed hipsterism and cool about as far as they can go, and that isn't nearly far enough." This reproach was echoed by other reviewers who found that the film's style did not stray far from that of the director's earlier work – a critical backlash that would be amplified two years later following the release of Night On Earth
(1991).
Postmodern cultural critic bell hooks
cited the interaction in the Memphis train station between Thomas and the Japanese couple as one of the few examples of nuanced, deconstructive and subversive treatment of blackness
in American film. The Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
proclaimed that "[t]he best thing about Mystery Train is that it takes you to an America you feel you ought to be able to find for yourself, if you only knew where to look." In an April 2000 retrospective of Jarmusch's work for Sight & Sound
, Shawn Levy concluded that the film was "as much a valentine to the allure of the American way of pop culture as it is a cheeky bit of structural legerdemain without terribly much resonating significance".
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
written and directed by Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
and set in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. The film comprises a triptych
Triptych
A triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
of stories involving foreign protagonists unfolding over the course of the same night. "Far From Yokohama" features a Japanese couple (played by Youki Kudoh
Youki Kudoh
is a Japanese actress and singer. She won the award for best newcomer at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival for The Crazy Family. She also won the award for best actress at the 16th Hochi Film Award for War and Youth.-Filmography:-External links:* *...
and Masatoshi Nagase
Masatoshi Nagase
Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's Cold Fever and Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train, in Japan for his role as TV's Mike Hama .He has won two Japanese Academy Awards, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Newcomer in 1992...
) on a blues pilgrimage, "A Ghost" focuses on an Italian widow (Nicoletta Braschi
Nicoletta Braschi
Nicoletta Braschi is an Italian actress and producer, best known for her work with her husband, actor and director Roberto Benigni....
) stranded in the city overnight, and "Lost In Space" follows the misadventure of a newly single and unemployed Englishman (Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor , best remembered by his stage name Joe Strummer, was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the British punk rock band The Clash. His musical experience included his membership in The 101ers, Latino Rockabilly War, The Mescaleros and The Pogues, in...
) and his companions (Rick Aviles
Rick Aviles
Rick Aviles was an American stand-up comedian and actor of Afro-Puerto Rican descent, who is best remembered for the role of Willie Lopez in the movie Ghost.-Early years:...
and Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
). They are linked by a run-down flophouse overseen by a night clerk (played by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Jalacy Hawkins , best known as Screamin' Jay Hawkins was an American musician, singer, and actor...
) and his dishevelled bellboy (Cinqué Lee), a scene featuring Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's "Blue Moon
Blue Moon (song)
"Blue Moon"'s first crossover recording to rock and roll came from Elvis Presley in 1956. His cover version of the song was included on his self-titled debut album Elvis Presley....
", and a gunshot.
The starting point for the script was the ensemble cast of friends and previous collaborators Jarmusch had conceived characters for, while the tripartite formal structure of the film was inspired by his study of literary forms. Cinematographer Robby Müller
Robby Müller
Robby Müller is a cinematographer whose name is most often associated with film director Wim Wenders.-Life and work:...
and musician John Lurie
John Lurie
John Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
were among the many contributors who had been involved in earlier Jarmusch projects and returned to work on the film. Mystery Trains US$2.8 million budget (financed by Japanese conglomerate JVC
JVC
, usually referred to as JVC, is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927...
) was considerable compared to what the director had enjoyed before, and allowed him the freedom to rehearse many unscripted background scenes. It was the first of Jarmusch's feature films to depart from his trademark black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
photography, though the use of color was tightly controlled to conform with the director's intuitive sense of the film's aesthetic.
Mystery Train was released theatrically by Orion Classics
Orion Classics
Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom, that acquired independent and foreign films for North American distribution, in addition to producing some arthouse films of its own...
under a restricted rating in the United States, where it grossed over $1.5 million. It enjoyed critical acclaim on the film festival circuit, and like the director's earlier films premiered at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
and was shown in competition at Cannes
1989 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Wim Wenders *Christine Gouze-Renal*Claude Beylie*Georges Delerue*Hector Babenco*Krzysztof Kieślowski*Peter Handke*Renée Blanchar*Sally Field*Silvio Clementelli-Feature film competition:* Chimère by Claire Devers...
, where Jarmusch was awarded the Best Artistic Achievement Award. The film was also shown in the Edinburgh, London, Midnight Sun, Telluride, and Toronto film festivals, and was nominated in six categories at the Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
. Critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers praising the structure, humor, and characters of the film, though there were discontented rumblings that the director had not been sufficiently adventurous.
Plot
The film consists of three stories that take place on the same night in downtown Memphis. The three stories are linked together by the Arcade Hotel, a run-down flophouse presided over by the night clerk (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and bellboy (Cinqué Lee), where the principal characters in each story spend a part of the night. Every room in the hotel is adorned with a portrait of Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
The first story, "Far From Yokohama", features Mitsuko (Youki Kudoh) and Jun (Masatoshi Nagase), a teenage couple from Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
making a pilgrimage to Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
during a trip across America. Mitsuko is obsessed with Elvis to the point where she believes that there is a mystical connection between Elvis, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
. The film follows the couple as they travel from the train station, through downtown Memphis and an exhausting tour of Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
, to the Arcade hotel.
The second story, "A Ghost", is about an Italian widow, Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi), who is stranded in Memphis while escorting her husband's coffin back to Italy. Luisa, who has been conned twice and stuck with armfuls of magazines, is forced to share a room at the hotel with Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco
Elizabeth Bracco
Elizabeth Bracco is an American actress who is best known for her role as Marie Spatafore, wife of Vito Spatafore, on the HBO TV series, The Sopranos....
), a young woman who has just left her boyfriend (Johnny from the final story) and who plans to leave the city in the morning. Luisa is kept awake by Dee Dee's constant talking, and when the young woman finally does go to sleep, she is visited by an apparition of Memphis' most famous icon – Elvis Presley.
The final story, "Lost In Space", introduces Johnny (Joe Strummer). Upset after losing his job and his girlfriend (Dee Dee from the second story), Johnny – known, much to his chagrin, as Elvis – drunkenly brandishes a gun in a bar before leaving with his friend Will Robinson (Rick Aviles) and his ex-girlfriend's brother Charlie (Steve Buscemi), who believes Johnny to be his brother-in-law. They stop at a liquor store, which Johnny robs using the gun and severely wounds the owner in the process. Fearing the consequences of the incident, Johnny, Will and Charlie retire to the hotel to hide out for the night; there, Johnny gets further drunk. Charlie realizes that Will shares the same name as the character Will Robinson from the television show Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
, which Johnny has never heard of. Charlie and Will proceed to tell him about the show, and Will comments that that is how he feels then with Charlie and Johnny: lost in space. The next morning, Charlie discovers that Johnny isn't really his brother-in-law, which angers him because of what they've been through. Johnny attempts to shoot himself, and while struggling to prevent him, Charlie is shot in the leg. Leaving the hotel, the three rush to escape a police car that isn't even looking for them. The closing credits show the train, the airport and the final views of the characters from the first two stories.
Script and casting
Jarmusch wrote the script for the film under the working title "One Night in Memphis", without ever having been to the southern city. The idea for "Far From Yokohama", the first segment, he took from a one-act play he had been writing before filming Down by LawDown by Law (film)
Down by Law is a 1986 black-and-white independent film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni....
(1986). The play – unrelated to Elvis or Memphis – concerned a constantly argumentative young couple, one of whom gradually comes to realize that their fighting is a unifying force in the relationship. The interconnected stories were inspired by Jarmusch's dwelling on literary forms, and specifically the work of Chaucer, Italian episodic films and Japanese ghost story cinema. As with his other films, Jarmusch's starting point for writing Mystery Train was the actors and characters he had foremost in mind. The great number of these collaborators contributed to it being "the most complicated film to write and execute" according to the director.
The role of Johnny was written by Jarmusch specifically for Joe Strummer, who had been the frontman of The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, the director's favorite 1980s rock band. Jarmusch had conceived the part a few years previously while the two were together in Spain, and although the musician had been in a period of depression at the time following the collapse of the band, he was drawn by the Memphis setting of the film. Unlike the jovial Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
, Strummer did not stay on set to joke with the veteran actors between shots, but instead preferred to keep his own company, focusing intensively on orienting himself to the role.
Jarmusch had met blues singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins after featuring his music prominently in his breakthrough feature film debut Stranger Than Paradise
Stranger Than Paradise
Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 American absurdist/deadpan comedy film. It was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and stars jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, and Hungarian-born actress Eszter Balint...
(1984). Although reticent about acting, Hawkins responded favorably to the director's offer to appear. The part of Luisa was also written by the director with the star – actress Nicoletta Braschi – in mind; the two had previously collaborated on Down by Law
Down by Law (film)
Down by Law is a 1986 black-and-white independent film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni....
(1986). Cinqué Lee is the younger brother of director Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
, a longtime friend of Jarmusch from their days at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's film school, while Youki Kudoh was cast after the director saw her performance in Sōgo Ishii
Sogo Ishii
', formerly is a Japanese filmmaker known for his striking visuals and sometimes outlandish subject matter.Ishii was born in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and is a graduate of Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka High School and Nihon University College of Art....
's The Crazy Family
The Crazy Family
is a 1984 Japanese film directed by Sōgo Ishii.-Awards and nominations:6th Yokohama Film Festival* Won: Best Newcomer - Youki Kudoh*8th Best Film...
(1984) while promoting Down by Law in Japan. Repeat Jarmusch collaborators who worked on the film included John Lurie
John Lurie
John Lurie is an American actor, musician, painter and producer. He is co-founder of The Lounge Lizards, a jazz ensemble. Lurie has acted in 19 films including Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, composed and performed music for 20 television and film works, and he produced and starred in...
who provided the original music, cinematographer Robby Müller
Robby Müller
Robby Müller is a cinematographer whose name is most often associated with film director Wim Wenders.-Life and work:...
, and singer Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, who in a voice appearance reprised his role of radio DJ Lee Baby Sims from Down by Law. Other cameos include Jarmusch's long-time girlfriend Sara Driver
Sara Driver
Sara Driver is an independent filmmaker born in Westfield, NJ. She produced two early films for Jim Jarmusch, helping him to gain international attention and success...
as an airport clerk, Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the...
as the man in the train station who greets the Japanese couple, Rockets Redglare
Rockets Redglare
Rockets Redglare was an American character actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared in over 30 films in the 1980s and 1990s, including a number of independent films, and mainstream films such as After Hours and Desperately Seeking Susan .-Early life:Born Michael Morra in New York City to a...
as the clerk of the liquor store, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Vondie Curtis-Hall is an American actor and film director.As an actor, he is best known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope created by David E. Kelley.-Early life:...
as Ed, Sy Richardson
Sy Richardson
-Early life:Richardson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He started singing at age 12 and recorded his first record with Lil June and the Januarys at 16. Richardson served two years on active duty with the United States Navy.-Career:...
as the news vendor, and Richard Boes and Tom Noonan
Tom Noonan
Tom Noonan is an American actor and film writer-director.-Early life:Noonan was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Rosaleen and Tom Noonan, who worked as a dentist and jazz musician respectively...
as diner patrons.
Filming
Mystery Train was filmed in Memphis in the Summer of 1988. After arriving in the city during a snowstorm to scout for shooting locations, Jarmusch drove around without direction before coming to the intersection of a disused train station, the Arcade Luncheonette diner, and the dilapidated Arcade Hotel that would become the film's core setting. He would later recount the experience in a March 1990 interview in SpinSpin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
: "Man, ... this crossroad is filled with so many ghosts. You know Robert Johnson walked down that street, you know Muddy Waters was in that train station." The locale of the intersection was one of the film's primary formal elements; the effect of Jarmusch returning to the setting with different characters under different circumstances was one of variations on a theme.
The film was shot in bright, primary colors rather than the black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
of the director's previous features, but it retained his usual languid pacing. Jarmusch characterized the color choice as "intuitive". He deliberately chose a cool color palette, eschewing yellows and oranges and using only sporadic dashes of red (as in the Japanese couple's ubiquitous suitcase). This motif of flashes of red was later described by Suzanne Scott of Reverse Shot as "giving the impression of a failed attempt to grab a bit of Elvis’s glamor and try it on for size, only to inevitably discover that it looks cartoonish out of context". Stills from the film as well as on-location shots of the actors and the film crew by photographer Masayoshi Sukita were published to accompany the film as the photo collection Mystery Train: A Film by Jim Jarmusch.
Mystery Train was the first American independent film to be financed by Japanese conglomerate JVC
JVC
, usually referred to as JVC, is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927...
, and was produced on a budget – $2.8 million – that was considerable by Jarmusch's modest standards. The company was enthusiastic about underwriting the film despite the director insisting on retaining full creative control, and went on to fund his next three features. The substantial budget and time available gave Jarmusch the opportunity to shoot in color and to rehearse with the actors many scenes not in the script, including several from the courtship of Mitsuko and Jun. At a Memphis nightclub with the Japanese actors during production, the director had Masatoshi Nagase
Masatoshi Nagase
Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's Cold Fever and Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train, in Japan for his role as TV's Mike Hama .He has won two Japanese Academy Awards, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Newcomer in 1992...
– who spoke little English but was an accomplished mimic – try chat-up lines on the female clientele as an acting exercise. Jarmusch took advantage of the production to make the second installment of his Coffee and Cigarettes
Coffee and Cigarettes
Coffee and Cigarettes is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature film by independent director Jim Jarmusch. The 2003 film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread, and includes the earlier three films....
series, a collection of short vignettes featuring acquaintances of the director sitting about drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. The "Memphis Version", titled Twins, starred bickering twins Cinqué and Joie Lee
Joie Lee
Joie Susannah Lee is an American screenwriter, film producer and actress. She has appeared in many of the films directed by her brother, Spike Lee, including She's Gotta Have It , School Daze , Do the Right Thing , and Mo' Better Blues...
alongside Steve Buscemi as an obtuse waiter who expounds his theory of Elvis having an evil twin
Evil twin
The evil twin is an antagonist found in many different fictional genres. They are physical copies of protagonists, but with radically inverted moralities. In filmed entertainment, they can have obvious physical differences with the protagonist—such as facial hair, eyepatches, scars or distinctive...
to a hostile reception.
Release
The film had its domestic premiere at the 27th New York Film Festival in 1989, thereby emulating the director's previous features Stranger Than Paradise in 1984, and Down by Law in 1986. The Miami Herald declared it the "quiet triumph" of the festival. The film was picked up for theatrical distribution by Orion ClassicsOrion Classics
Orion Classics was the division of Orion Pictures, headed by Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom, that acquired independent and foreign films for North American distribution, in addition to producing some arthouse films of its own...
in the United States, where it was released under an R-rating due to scenes featuring brief nudity and mild profanity. Its total domestic gross was $1,541,218, making it the 153rd highest-grossing film of 1989, and the 70th highest R-rated film of the year. Internationally, it was first shown in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival
1989 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Wim Wenders *Christine Gouze-Renal*Claude Beylie*Georges Delerue*Hector Babenco*Krzysztof Kieślowski*Peter Handke*Renée Blanchar*Sally Field*Silvio Clementelli-Feature film competition:* Chimère by Claire Devers...
on May 13 and 14, 1989, and subsequently featured in the Edinburgh
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, London
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun Film Festival
Midnight Sun Film Festival is an annual five-day film festival in Sodankylä, Finland. The festival usually takes place in the second week of June. One of the main themes of the festival is to show films without a break all day and night long, while the sun keeps on shining.The Midnight Sun Film...
, Telluride
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
and Toronto
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
film festivals.
Mystery Train was released on DVD on March 28, 2000 with an aspect ratio
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,...
of 1.85:1 and Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1/2 surround sound. The DVD release was criticized by Anna Lazowski of allmovie who awarded it two stars out of five compared to four for the film itself, citing the paltry special features of 24 scene selections and a collectible behind-the-scenes booklet. A Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray were released on June 15, 2010, utilizing a new restored high-definition digital transfer.
Critical reception
Like Jarmusch's previous films, Mystery Train enjoyed a warm reception from critics. This was particularly evident at Cannes, where the film was nominated for the Palme d'OrPalme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
and Jarmusch was commended for the festival's Best Artistic Achievement. It was nominated in six categories at the 1989 Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
: Best Picture, Best Screenplay (Jim Jarmusch), Best Director (Jim Jarmusch), Best Cinematography (Robby Müller), Best Actress (Youki Kudoh), and Best Supporting Actor (Steve Buscemi and Screamin' Jay Hawkins).
Entertainment Weekly reviewer Ira Robbins gave the film a B+ rating, complimenting it as "conceptually ambitious" and concluding that its "offbeat characters, fine cinematography, and novel structure make for entertaining viewing". Robert Fulford of The National Post hailed it as "eccentric and deliriously funny", while Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Phil Whitman remarked that the director's "bracing, original comedy may be mostly smoke and air, but it's not insubstantial". In The New York Times, Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
called it "thoroughly fascinating, a delight" and the director's best effort to date, drawing note to its retention of the "same kind of dour, discordant charm" exhibited by Stranger Than Paradise. He praised Jarmusch's development as a screenwriter – citing the restrained dialogue, humor and subtlety of the narrative and the careful construction of the plot – and the performances he elicited from the ensemble cast. John Hartl, in The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
, also drew a comparison with Stranger Than Paradise, judging Mystery Train to be the more accessible work while retaining the dry wit of its predecessor.
Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
was unimpressed with the film, calling it Jarmusch's "least engaging, and the first in which his bohemian posturing actually becomes an irritant". Of the film's characters, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum is an American film critic. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987 until 2008, when he retired at the age of 65...
of the Chicago Reader wrote that some were "beautifully imagined and realized, while others seem drawn from a more familiar stockpile, designed for reuse rather than discovery". David Denby
David Denby (film critic)
David Denby is an American journalist, best known as a film critic for The New Yorker magazine.-Background and education:Denby grew up in New York City. He received a B.A...
, concluding a mixed review of the film for New York Magazine, mused that "one feels Jarmusch has pushed hipsterism and cool about as far as they can go, and that isn't nearly far enough." This reproach was echoed by other reviewers who found that the film's style did not stray far from that of the director's earlier work – a critical backlash that would be amplified two years later following the release of Night On Earth
Night on Earth
Night on Earth is a 1991 film directed by Jim Jarmusch.Night on Earth may also refer to:*Night on Earth , the soundtrack album from the Jarmusch film, written by Tom Waits....
(1991).
Postmodern cultural critic bell hooks
Bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins , better known by her pen name bell hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist....
cited the interaction in the Memphis train station between Thomas and the Japanese couple as one of the few examples of nuanced, deconstructive and subversive treatment of blackness
African American culture
African-American culture, also known as black culture, in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of Americans of African descent to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African-American culture is rooted in...
in American film. The Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
proclaimed that "[t]he best thing about Mystery Train is that it takes you to an America you feel you ought to be able to find for yourself, if you only knew where to look." In an April 2000 retrospective of Jarmusch's work for Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
, Shawn Levy concluded that the film was "as much a valentine to the allure of the American way of pop culture as it is a cheeky bit of structural legerdemain without terribly much resonating significance".
External links
- Mystery Train at The Jim Jarmusch Resource Page
- "Communication Breakdown" – an essay on the film from the Bright Lights Film JournalBright Lights Film JournalBright Lights Film Journal is an online popular-academic film magazine, with a left-leaning critical orientation, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is edited and published by Gary Morris....