by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Written and directed by the ever-unpredictable Jim Jarmusch, Mystery Train is comprised of three short anecdotes involving foreign tourists in Tennessee. Each story is set in a fleabag Memphis hotel which has been redressed as a "tribute" to Elvis Presley. Story one involves two Japanese tourists whose devotion to '50s American rock music blinds them to everything around them. Story two finds eternal victim Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi) sharing a room with stone-broke Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco) and having her problems solved by a spectral vision of the King. And story three offers the further misadventures of Dee Dee, her no-good boyfriend, and her dysfunctional family.
characteristics
- High Production Values
- Cult Film
- High Artistic Quality
- Foreign
- Italian [nationality]
- Tour
- Japanese [nationality]
- Motel
- Spirit
- Widower
- Apparition
- Criminal
- Ghost
- Train [locomotive]
- Culture Clash
