Mystery Train
1989, R, 113 min.
D: Jim Jarmusch; with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Youki Kudoh, Masatoshi Nagase, Joe Strummer, Steve Buscemi, Tom Noonan, Rufus Thomas, Tom Waits.

Jim Jarmusch applies his minimalist style to the margins of Memphis as seen through the experiences of three sets of foreigners. Consisting of three separate stories, the movie is told in three segments: the first follows two Japanese visitors on an Elvis pilgrimage, the second a widow in town to oversee the transportation of her husband’s dead body to Rome, and finally, the story of a drunken, crazy Brit on a bender. Great casting and occasional moments of grace.

This article appears in August 6 • 1999 (Cover).

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.