MYSTERY TRAIN

US, 1989, 113 minutes, Colour.
Masatshe Nogose, Youki Kudoh, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Nicoletta Brascchi, Steve Buscemi, Tom Noonan.
Directed by Jim Jarmusch.

Mystery Train is the third feature by writer-director Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch, after making a number of short films, made a great impact on the art-house circuit with his Stranger Than Paradise (1984). Working in black and white photography, with music by his star John Lurie, Jarmusch created an odd world, a new look at ordinary America. He continued this with his Louisiana comedy-drama, Down By Law (1986).

After Mystery Train, Jarmusch made Night on Earth, a portmanteau film set in five different cities throughout the world and focusing on taxi drivers and their passengers. He then made, in black and white, the allegorical western, Dead Man with Johnny Depp. Jarmusch also appeared in a number of films, especially those by Ari Kaurismaki (including Leningrad Cowboys Go America) and featured in Wayne Wang's and Paul Auster's Blue in the Face.

Mystery Train has three stories - and it emerges that they are occurring simultaneously. Jarmusch plays with time, interconnectedness of characters and themes. The setting is Elvis Presley's Memphis, Tennessee.

1.The work of Jim Jarmusch? Characteristic - and eccentric? A fringe film-maker who has moved more towards the centre? His accuracy and irony of observation? His sardonic and humorous style? His affectionate look at his characters? A piece of Americana?

2.The settings of Memphis, Tennessee, the memories of Elvis, the presence of Elvis after his death - pictures, conversation, souvenirs, Graceland (although the Japanese couple don't go there), people imitating and dressing as Elvis, calling themselves Elvis? Means of travel into Memphis - trains, buses, planes and the airport? The hotel serving as a unifying focus for the characters and their stories? The musical score - the songs and the Elvis songs appropriately introduced to the stories?

3.The title, expectations, a journey into Memphis, the passengers and their interactions - and their destinations?

4.The mystique of Memphis, Memphis as a middle-American and southern city? The range of international visitors, visitors from Japan, the night in Memphis, the darkness, the streets, the hotel and its neon signs...?

5.The hotel and its atmosphere, all the characters going to the hotel? The staff and their treatment of the visitors, interactions amongst themselves? The boss, his assistant, their relationship? Their treatment of the customers? Old-fashioned style in a down-and-out hotel? The staff on duty, the repetitions of particular scenes? The staff during the long night?

6.The three stories forming a triptych? Each having value in itself? Each illuminating the other? Seen together and the interaction of the three?

7.The question of time, the stories happening simultaneously, the staff and their reaction to the various visitors, the puzzles, the passing of time, the radio, the Elvis songs and the other songs? The gunshot and its occurring in the three stories? A night in time - with people in different time zones yet their stories happening simultaneously?

8.The hotel and the actors, the references to various films and to music, to Elvis, to the rock music?

9.The first story: Far from Yokohama: the focus on the couple, their Japanese background, Japanese tourists in the US, Graceland pilgrims - but did they get there? The cumbersome large case they carried around? Trudging around the city? Two young people, their relationship, in a different culture? Going to the Hotel Arcade? Their love for Elvis, the scrapbooks, the art? Their taking photos? Photos of the room, the window? Lovemaking? Their leaving - and the gunshot? The humorous comment on visitors? The Elvis cult? Japanese and other visitors within American culture? The power of observation in the story - points being made?

10.The second story: Ghost: Louisa and her being in Memphis, her situation, her husband's coffin, waiting for the plane, wandering around the city? Going to the diner, the encounter with the man, his story - the hitchhiker, repeatedly picking up the hitchhiker, Elvis's ghost? The story of giving the comb to an Italian girl? Louisa giving the money to the man to be rid of him? Going into the hotel? Her buying the magazines, and the humour of her not reading them and the different ways she got rid of them? In the hotel, the encounter with DeeDee?, sharing the room? The story, the experience of the ghost? Trying to wake DeeDee? and the ghost vanishing? The experience of Elvis's ghost? Hearing the gunshot?

11.The third story: Lost in Space: Johnny and his relationship with DeeDee? Ed and the behaviour in the bar, the gun, the scuffle, drunkenness? The store and the shots? Dave? The violence, going to the Arcade Hotel? Johnny and the suicide? His failure to kill himself but wounding his friend? Their getting in the truck, attempting to escape, the police stopping them? The comment on Elvis with Johnny and his nickname, his appearance and clothes? The film's comment on American cities, young men and their violence, the cult of Elvis?

12.The finale of the film, Louisa getting her plane, the Japanese couple on the train? The young men and the police stopping them?

13.A portrait of a range of people, seeing them in their American context, foreigners out of context? Bonds between people? Detachment? The tangles of people's lives? Human nature? The symbolism of the gunshot and the Japanese thinking that this was America? Louisa identifying the calibre? The actual violence with the gun? A film of observation and meanings?