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Mystery Train

post #1 of 12
3/4/10 at 10:25am
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Yeah, so I just realized, after this and STRANGER THAN PARADISE, that Jim Jarmusch is one of my all time favorite directors.

MYSTERY TRAIN:
1. It's episodic. There's much story before and after this trip to Memphis, but there's enough change for the characters that this night in Memphis is some kind of enlightenment. I mean that it's a change of perspective or relationship.

2. It shows America. I grew up in Texas, specifically far away from all the big cities (Dallas, Houston, Austin, etc.) I grew up seeing weeds coming up through the pavement, dilapidated store fronts in the town squares, trains crossing day and night, etc. It feels like that view of America is in this movie. Great.

3. He uses musicians and unique personalities and real people (like the patron at that magazine stand) instead of exclusively using actors. Even though the acting is not consistently glossy, it's always interesting.

4. The tone is close to my own sensibilities. It's slow, dead pan, but slightly absurd. I kinda have the feeling that comes from his upbringing in the sparse landscape of the Midwest, but IDK. I'm sure Ozu and others played a part.

Quick question: Is the Japanese segment supposed to lack English subtitles. I tried a bunch of different settings, but the most I could get was: [speaking Japanese.] My gut feeling is that this is Jarmusch refusing to compromise. Somewhere in an interview, he commented that Ozu films bought in Japan do not come with subtitles, but the actors are so skilled that you still feel the story.
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post #2 of 12
3/4/10 at 11:44am
I think I saw it with subtitles, but I'm not sure. My memory is that their English is good enough that we can sort of follow what's going on.

Great movie. I agree with you -- it's got a real lived in quality to it that makes it feel like a real part of America, not your sterotypical "between L.A. and N.Y." type of town.
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post #3 of 12
3/4/10 at 9:14pm
It's supposed to be without subtitles.

Great movie, I particularly love Screamin' Jay Hawkins and his clerk buddy. "Do you have any plums, or other exotic fruits?" The Joe Strummer/Buscemi section is my favorite. It manages to be hilarious while maintaining a very real sense of tension. You especially feel for Buscemi's hapless character.

I heard Criterion is supposed to do a release of this soon, which is great. I hope they get all of Jarmusch's stuff out, I'd love to own a delux version of Ghost Dog and Dead Man especially.
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post #4 of 12
4/24/10 at 9:01pm
Are you guys positive about there intentionally being no subtitles? The DVD I watched didn't seem to have any by default, but if you stuck the english subtitles on all the Japanese was translated as well, so I didn't think to question it. I guess watching it without would be interesting, but hardly more enjoyable as their banter is some of the most fun dialogue in the movie. Couldn't help thinking of the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl during the first part, but not in a bad way (though I'm an easy mark when it comes to that archetype).

Incidentally as a result of watching the whole movie with english subtitles the penny finally dropped that "Arkensaw" (which I only really know from being referred to out load a few times in tv and movies) and "Arkansas" are in fact one and the same. Duhhh.

Anyway I finally saw it yesterday and thought it was pretty great. Probably the lightest and funniest Jarmusch movie I've seen yet, though as usual there's quite a wide variety of different tones in there. Good to see some vintage early Buscemi (who I didn't even know was in it) and Screamin' Jay Hawkins is surprisingly hilarious. And yeah like Jetman says Jarmusch really creates a vivid sense of place here.
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post #5 of 12
4/24/10 at 11:27pm
I'm currently in a Jarmusch binge too. Had only seen Dead Man, Ghost Dog, and Broken Flowers, all of which I absolutely adore. Last week, watched Mystery Train and Night on Earth, two similar movies in tone and structure, both very enjoyable.

I saw this film without subtitles, which was the way it's intended, and that opening segment turned out to be my favorite. Afterward, I did find the track, hidden amongst 8 or so different ones, with the English subs, but didn't bother re-watching. I didn't need to know what they were saying to understand them; their attitudes and mannerisms were enough to keep me engaged.
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post #6 of 12
4/25/10 at 4:06pm
Dude, check out Down By Law stat. That might be his best (though I personally adore Dead Man the most).
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post #7 of 12
4/26/10 at 10:40pm
Perfect timing, just watched it this morning. Great photography. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed the journey of the unlikely trio of Tom Waits, John Lurie and Roberto Benigni, who I usually find grating, like in Night on Earth, but here he was my favorite character.
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post #8 of 12
4/27/10 at 2:14am
I love Stranger than Paradise, but I have not seen this yet. I will be picking up the Criterion Blu in a month or two, whenever it comes out.

On the other hand, I just watched The Limits of Control and did not know what to make of it.
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post #9 of 12
5/3/10 at 1:29pm
Since I've just written an article on music in Jarmusch films, I got to binge on the collection as well. Was, is and shall remain my favourite director bar none. His sensibility is exactly up my alley, right down the middle.

Mystery Train might be his most easily enjoyable (except maybe Broken Flowers), although as a whole I indeed prefer Dead Man. But then again, I think that's one of the best movies ever made so there's that.

I think Limits Of Control will go the same route as DM, though. Completely panned by the critics on release, then slowly people were turning around on it over the years. Don't know if it's ever gonna reach the cult status of DM, but it's certainly a better and more interesting movie than it gets credit for till now.
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post #10 of 12
6/23/10 at 12:18pm
On the japanese/english subtitles issue: the new Jarmusch-approved Criterion edition of this *does* have them, so I guess that can be put to bed now.
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post #11 of 12
7/22/10 at 11:18pm
I just watched this. I can't imagine watching the first segment without subtitles. The film reminded me of Paris Texas for some reason.

Screamin' Jay is so good in this. Jarmusch's story about him scattering the bones to stop the rain is aces.
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post #12 of 12
3/31/12 at 2:46am

I just watched "Mystery Train" and felt like sharing some thoughts about it and Jarmusch in general. I've been on a bit of a Jarmusch kick lately after watching "Down By Law" and "Stranger Than Paradise". With all of his movies, I find myself liking parts more than the whole. Perhaps more than any other director, his movies are very clearly divided into acts or segments, and in every case so far, I've found some acts excellent, and others dull. I've yet to see one movie by him that I loved from start to finish. That's the risk in always doing things in a sort of compilation format.

 

Along with the ones I mentioned, I've also seen "Night on Earth". In "Night on Earth", I hated the Benigni Italy segment, but liked the rest. In "Down By Law", I was bored at the beginning, but started to love it once the characters got to prison. In "Mystery Train", I was enthralled for the first segment. I loved it so much that I think this might have become one of my all time favourite movies if the whole movie had stayed with that segment's characters.

 

Unfortunately, the last two segments didn't do as much for me. Their characters were not as fun (aside from the returning hotel staff) and I didn't get much pleasure out of watching them. It was novel to see Buscemi looking younger and Joe Strummer actually playing a character instead of just making a cameo, but what happened to them didn't excite me.

 

I really liked the Japanese characters, especially the girl. Her attitude and dialog were adorable. The guy was cool at first. Then, he started to drive me nuts with his being relentlessly stone-faced no matter what she did, even when she was being unbearably cute and affectionate trying to make him smile.

 

Then again, I guess if he'd reacted to her behaviour the way a normal person would, their scenes together wouldn't have as much intrigue. At least he finally came to his senses when she threw her clothes at him and got under the covers. I was starting to think maybe he was a eunuch. cool.gif

 

I was really disappointed by "Stranger Than Paradise". It seemed to be one of those movies where nothing happens, but I was willing to go with it and give it all the time it needed to get somewhere interesting. By the end, I STILL felt like nothing had happened. Really disappointing. The only pluses were the performances and some nice dialog. Jarmusch again showed a talent for casting unknown actresses who have a really lovable charisma about them. I just wish the girl in that movie had been given something more interesting to do.

 

Fortunately, "Mystery Train" felt like a big improvement from "Stranger Than Paradise" and reignited my interest in Jarmusch. While none of his movies have worked for me from start to finish, "Down by Law" has come closest, and I expect that eventually I'll find one that is completely satisfying. Now I just have to decide which of his movies to watch next between "Dead Man", "Ghost Dog", and "Broken Flowers".

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