Mystery Train

Name: Mystery Train
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Crime
Released: November 17, 1989
Duration: 110 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Cinqué Lee, Jodie Markell, Joshua Elvis Hoch, Masatoshi Nagase, Pat Hoch

1989

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 16 Critics

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Mystery Train

Movie Details & Credits

Orion Classics | Release Date: November 17, 1989

Starring: Cinqué Lee, Jodie Markell, Joshua Elvis Hoch, Masatoshi Nagase, Pat Hoch, Reginald Freeman, Rufus Thomas, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, William Hoch, Youki Kudoh

Summary: Three stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 110 min

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Awards & Rankings

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Critic Reviews

100

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

There is a deep embedding of comedy, nostalgia, shabby sadness and visual beauty. Read full review

Los Angeles Times - Michael Wilmington

It's a jewel-like, minimalist film about a group of crisscrossing wanderers and outlaws on one lyrically strange day and night in Memphis--where haphazard-seeming events slowly merge into entrancingly complex figures and patterns. Read full review

The New York Times - Vincent Canby

The dialogue sounds as if it had been gathered by means of microphones hidden in diners, buses, waiting rooms, restrooms, motels and park benches. Sometimes it is hilariously banal, with never a word wasted. Read full review

Washington Post - Desson Thomson

The great thing about Mystery Train is its open-endedness. It's a generously scripted ride that gives equal berth to all its characters, then cuts them loose with unfinished business, which also leaves them alive and drifting in your thoughts for a long time. That doesn't seem like a bad achievement at all. Read full review

Slant Magazine - Joseph Jon Lanthier

Mystery Train is a singularly enthusiastic American anthem that trenchantly interprets the cult of audiophilia as filthy gas stoves roasting marshmallows, raspy radio DJs hawking fried calamari, and ill-equipped racial armies ignorantly clashing by night. Read full review

Variety - Staff (Not Credited)

Mystery Train is a three-episode pic handled by indie writer-director Jim Jarmusch in his usual playful, minimalist style. Read full review

The Guardian - Derek Malcolm

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]

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