“The 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.”
Jim Jarmusch's cult favourite takes its title from Junior Parker's 1953 r n b classic (later immortalised by Elvis in 1955). A seedy hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, provides the backdrop for three separate tales, featuring everything from a kitsch-obsessed Japanese couple (Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô) to a trio of amateur robbers (Joe Strummer, Rick Aviles, Steve Buscemi) who discover the true nature of their relationship during a botched heist. Linking the stories together is the hotel's eccentric and creepy night clerk (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) as well as the spirit of Elvis Presley. With all the quirk and cool you'd expect from 1980s Jarmusch, this is a true American indie gem.
