Mystery Train

I went back to work today after my week's vacation.

This evening I watched the movie Mystery Train, directed by Jim Jarmusch.  It consists of three separate but linked stories set over the same 24 hour period in Memphis, connected by a run-down hotel, a single gun shot and the legacy of Elvis Presley:  A teenage Japanese couple take a rock 'n'roll pilgrimage, an Italian widow is forced to spend 24 hours in Memphis after an unscheduled layover, and a hapless barber is unwittingly involved in a liquor store robbery by his aggressive drunk British brother-in-law.  It's a slow, melancholy but often very funny movie although it's comedy of the most deadpan sort.  It's a strangely haunting film with a real late night feel to it. It has a number of prominent musicians in the cast:  Screamin' Jay Hawkins as the hotel's night clerk, Joe Strummer (lead singer of The Clash) as the violent, drunk Brit, and Tom Waits as a late-night DJ.