521 - Mystery Train (1989)

We have our first sample of Jim Jarmusch with this little gift that Mike chose for Charlie’s extra-special birthday episode.  Is this classic three-part anthology set in crumbling Memphis environs a perfect present or a devastating disappointment?  With tales of tourists on a rock n’ roll pilgrimage, a widow beset by colorful locals during an unexpected layover, and three working stiffs caught up in an unintended crime spree, the viewer is left to find either a maudlin kind of transcendental revelation or a bitter laugh at the absurdity of a town still echoing with the ghostly sounds of Elvis Presley.

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be reviewing and discussing Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933).