Mystery

Mystery Train is one of those elusive movies, that I'd only seen in bits before yesterday. We got it from the library, and watched through. Odd and oddly engaging, as I have found Jarmusch's movies to be. I'd seen Stranger Than Paradise when it first came out at the Detroit Institute of Arts theater, an experience that baffled me and stuck to me. We'd gotten Dead Man last week, and it left much the same impression, if more violently. Mystery Train charms with more humor, largely due to the two Japanese actors who set the scene, the outskirts of Memphis as an alien world. Particularly Youki Kudoh, who I also loved in Picture Bride. And I want to find Cold Fever again, for the sake of Masatoshi Nagase.

A slow film, willing to linger on details, and simply gaze, unafraid of silence and ambiguity. Expect no explanation, since none will be given. Only a sly insight into our disjointed perceptions, that often, life is like that. One of those movies where I can smell the heavy humidity, the musty hotel, feel my feet ache with too much walking along cracked sidewalks.


Gave Moby a good brushing, that thinned out that winter undercoat of lighter fur. He luxuriated into the grooming.