Mystery Train (Widescreen)

 

 

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When I saw this movie in the theatre many years ago, there were English subtitles during the foreign language scenes. However, the DVD version does not offer English subtitles. It does offer French and Spanish subtitles.

This simple movie is great! It really brings you in and tells a great story of three parties crossing paths in downtrodden Memphis.

The story of the Japanese couple was an excellent way to show America through the eyes of a foreigner. I almost felt like a stranger in my own country. The scenes with the local lowlifes were the movie's weaker points, but they were still good. "Son, I'm the man who's gonna make you use that gun."

Definitely worth purchasing for repeat viewings if you're a film afficianado. If you are into more mainstream films, rent it first.

-- JJ Timmins

I think this film is quite good, but I disagree with the basic slant on it taken by the editor and the other customer reviews. I think this film is at least as much dark satire as it is celebration of the Elvis 'legacy'.
Jarmusch understands that comedy, the comic, is always rooted in irony and extreme contrast. But because it is rooted in irony, in contradiction, it is also never far away from nightmare. From beginning to end this beautiful little film overflows with ironies, harsh contrasts, comedy, and looming nightmare. People who don't grasp Jarmusch's deep feel for the proximity of comedy and nightmare call his style 'quirky'. But for Jarmusch this quirkiness is a dominant characteristic of the human condition, not merely an idiosyncrasy of his own.
To begin with consider the major inclusive contradiction that the entire film is set in, namely, that between the glory and wealth normally associated with Elvis and Graceland and the run down, trashed, Memphis that the film places us in. Jarmusch sets up the viewer by beginning with the very upbeat feel of the moving train and young Elvis singing the title song. From the first frames of the young Japanese couple on the train we know that they are going to Graceland and everything associated with that place immediately comes emotionally to mind. But Jarmusch deliberately drives against this mental/emotional current by leading us into a Memphis that feels more like a ghetto than the dream-home of our hero. From there the ironies just become continually more dense and subtle. By the time we reach the segment involving the gun-toting Britisher nicknamed 'Elvis', we are very close to a hell-world with only comedy to protect us from feeling its full impact. Clearly the legendary, fantasy Elvis that haunts every corner of this dark, shabby, sad, little world of Memphis is as oppressive and exploitative as it is liberating. When these two contradicting aspects collide it creates comedy in the film, but it creates comedy only because we don't want to deal directly with the darker aspects of the whole Elvis phenomenon involving racism, economic exploitation, consumer manipulation, etc. To see this film as a merely quirky, though skillful, tribute to the Elvis legacy is to miss its rich deeper layers. But then to see this one must be willing to acknowledge that Jarmusch might have something negative to say about the Elvis phenomenon and certain other aspects of americana. But whatever one's take on the film may be, I think that it must at least be admitted that Jarmusch probably had a good reason for mixing these extremes of dark and light, I mean a better reason than mere quirkiness. But the film stimulates a great deal of thought and felling and I recommend it highly to anyone interested in genuinely creative American cinema.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Hypnotic and Funny...
Jim Jarmusch hit the nail on the head with this film. I happened to come across it years ago while browsing in a video store. Read more

Published on April 27 2002 by Bereft

4.0 out of 5 stars Jarmusch's Classic.
I saw MYSTERY TRAIN in London, back in January 1990. I'd heard about the film before I left the US, but knew it would never play in my home town. Read more

Published on April 11 2002 by Mark Begley

4.0 out of 5 stars Long Live the King
'Mystery Train' is a strange little film that definitely has a certain amount of charm. Three very different groups of people (a Japanese couple, an Italian woman, and a British... Read more

Published on Jan 2 2002 by A. Wolverton

4.0 out of 5 stars Elvis or Carl Perkins
Jim Jarmusch, Elvis, Joe Strummer, Steve Buscemi, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. That is a portion of the cast, and enough for price of admission. Read more

Published on Oct 23 2001 by Bryan

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky but effective
What "Mystery Train" gives us a dandy, light slice of indie noir. Here, three tales in a broken-down hotel. One about an Italian widow. Read more

Published on Oct 14 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars Love the Movie, Hate the DVD
Yes, there are english subtitles on the 3rd and 4th subtitle channels. BUT...and here's the rub. I'm pretty sure, the subtitles are not accurate and the subtlety of Jarmusch's... Read more

Published on Sep 30 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars nice, better, damn!!
I saw this movie for a schoolassignment, and therefor was forced to see it a couple of times in a row, it kept getting better. Read more

Published on May 21 2001 by reneee79

4.0 out of 5 stars Jarmusch: The Master Of Minutiae
Memphis is the setting, and the specter of Elvis pervades a trio of stories in "Mystery Train," written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. Read more

Published on Dec 7 2000 by Reviewer

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!
This movie is awesome! It, at times, can be so off-base and bizarre, that it is just hysterical. (E.G., "I wouldn't eat that if I were you. Read more

Published on Aug 23 2000 by Jack Dempsey

5.0 out of 5 stars great movie/lousy MGM disc !
i love this movie. it definitely makes my top ten list. but whats up with the lack of special features? Read more

Published on May 21 2000 by robert peters

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