Mystery Train

Director: Jim Jarmusch

1989 / 110min / 35mm

Jarmusch’s Memphis-set triptych tells the stories of foreigners in the birthplace of rock n’ roll: a young Japanese couple (Youki Kudoh and Masatoshi Nagase), a recently-widowed Italian woman (Nicoletta Braschi), and an Englishman (Joe Strummer), all of whom pass through a motel managed by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Yankee Jarmusch is a stranger here himself, though he gets right to the lonesome heart of the Memphis sound, carried through the night by radio DJ Tom Waits and epitomized by Elvis Presley’s crucially used “Blue Moon.”

Part of Robby Müller: Remain in Light