Directed By:Jim Jarmusch
Written By:Jim Jarmusch
Mystery Train
Metascore
Generally Favorable
80
User score
Generally Favorable
8.0
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
There is a deep embedding of comedy, nostalgia, shabby sadness and visual beauty.
90
The film is about storytelling, about how we make connections between people, places, objects and time to create meaning, and how, when these connections shift, meaning changes. Best of all are Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Cinqué Lee as argumentative hotel receptionists hooked on Tom Waits' late night radio show. They, and Jarmusch's remarkably civilised direction, hold the whole shaggy dog affair together, turning it into one of the best films of the year.
89
Jim Jarmusch applies his minimalist style to the margins of Memphis as seen through the experiences of three sets of foreigners. Great casting and occasional moments of grace.
75
Jarmusch's presence as a director is always felt, from moment to moment, in ways that are small but never random. Even establishing shots -- exteriors of buildings -- suggest his sardonic, quietly despairing vision. With Mystery Train, Jarmusch comes of age. [21 Dec 1989, p.E1]
75
As with Stranger Than Paradise and Down By Law, Jarmusch focuses his offbeat sensibility on urban iconoclasts, small-town oddballs, and bewildered strangers. Not surprisingly, Mystery Train will work best for those who share Jarmusch's fondness for America's pop culture junkyard; he's a true original, but Jarmusch's originality lies in a quirky viewpoint that may leave some audience members cold.
50
The film is beautifully shot in saturated colour by Robby Muller, the cinematographer of Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas and many other remarkable looking films, but has one of those minimalist screenplays that drives one mad since nobody says anything which makes much sense at all. Its direction seems to ask us to look past the characters for significance, while enjoying their offbeat lifestyles. [07 Dec 1989]
50
Visually, the film is arresting; Robby Mueller's images have a low-energy vibrancy. But Jarmusch won't come out of himself. He's got juice, but only enough for doodling. He's too hip to live.
User score
Generally Favorable
92% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
8% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Dec 5, 2024
9
I had the pleasure of seeing this film in a museum. Such particular characters in a story that immerses you in the most melancholic feeling of the king.
Mar 30, 2021
8
Memories that you **** remember because of how simple life was back then. It seems that Jarmusch has dipped his brush in them before painting this otherwise off-beat, cool tapestry of three stories woven around the spirit of Elvis Presley. It's an ode to the ephemeral simple moments, only commemorated with a tinge of amiable quirkiness and deadpan humour to lend them some levity. And with a very aesthetic palette, Robert Müller magnify the intensity of colours to bring life and vividness against the vague tone of the movie and the tacky set design. Seeing Paterson and now this, I can safely assume that Jarmusch really manage to combine absurdity with poignancy very well. (8.5/10)
