Mystery Train

Three stories involving foreigners, their stay on the same night at a rundown, fleabag Memphis hotel, and the presence of Elvis Presley who seems to hover over the proceedings. Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train is a little to sparse in its storytelling but is passively engaging with are strange and amiable characters.

*** out of ****

Only Lovers Left Alive

A centuries old vampire (Tom Hiddleston) lives alone in his decrepit, isolated Detroit home, separately from his Mediterranean stationed wife (Tilda Swinton), where he composes popular rock ballads and relieves the local hospital of their choicest O-negative stock. When the couple senses sorrow in each others voices over the phone, they decide to reunite but find their visit interrupted by her reckless younger sister (Mia Wasikowska). Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive is well crafted, and a nice rebuke to the onslaught of vampire movies which seems to have cooled as of late, but wears thin and begins to plod after awhile. Hiddleston and Swinton are immensely appealing.

** 1/2 out of ****

Stranger Than Paradise

A bohemian layabout and part-time conman (John Lurie) receives an uninvited visitor at his New York apartment in the form of his Hungarian cousin (Eszter Balint) who needs a place to crash for a few days before moving in with her aunt in Cleveland (whatup). After bonding and parting ways, he decides to pay her a visit with his like-minded buddy (Richard Edson) before making another detour to Florida, all a succession of uneventful incidents. Stranger Than Paradise was Jim Jarmusch's breakthrough picture and a landmark in independent filmmaking. It is presented as a series of carefully constructed still shots, filmed in gorgeously grainy black and white, that have the odd effect of captivating and drawing the audience in. The performers are all non-professional, generally likable, and Balint is kind of wondrous as the awkward outsider who seems to have better taste and style than her American counterparts.