Directed By Clint Bentley

Starring – Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr

The Plot – Based on Denis Johnson’s beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier (Edgerton), a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.

Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexuality

Train Dreams | Official Trailer | Netflix

POSITIVES

America was built on the resilient backs of legions of people whose limitless sacrifice helped the land of opportunity to reach the extent of its fullest potential, and while capturing this overarching message from the shadowing of one lone man serving as a pawn to the bigger and more elaborate game with the universe taking shape, “Train Dreams” still manages to uncover and ask so many thought-provokingly poignant questions pertaining to existentialism and cosmic insignificance that stitch so many deep seeded-sentiments into perspective, leading to another profoundly rich meditation on life for Bentley, which proves that he’s anything but a one trick pony, after the immense success of 2024’s “Sing Sing”. Bentley clearly has a rich admiration for the bigger picture taking shape in the everyday operations of those involved, regardless of the occasional lack of morality stemming from such procedures, and while effortlessly immersing us into not only the lawlessness of such a desolately isolated setting, far from family love and nourishment, but also the dangerousness of the logging career, there’s a remarkable appreciation that subtly sneaks up and overcomes the expectations of the audience, inspiring a much deeper adoration for a relentlessly grueling career that obviously didn’t come close to paying enough, all the while working against the traditional familiarities of three act storytelling, which can make this a bit of a challenge of investments to those seeking quickly materializing stakes and urgency to its narratives. For me personally, the film constantly kept me engaged with its ever-shifting collection of off-the-wall characters, and psychological introspection conveying a deeper war persisting deep within the subconscious of Robert, than the one he and his crew are supplying lumber for, featuring these elaborately evocative and lucidly surreal sequences combining metaphorical imagery and absorbing editing techniques, all in the means to convey the lack of a subdued conscience from within him that bares the burden of a sleepless mind. Aside from Bentley’s irreplaceable value on the project, the film is also a technical marvel of stunning achievements in everything from breathtaking cinematography, shot brilliantly from Adolpho Veloso, as well as ethereal compositions from the iconic Bryce Dessner providing meaningful underlining to the imagery that sounds simply like life. On the former, Veloso’s surveilling of the gorgeous scenery would be enough to earn him awards recognition, but it’s the complexity in his framing devices that are most impactful in conveying this overwhelmingly unavoidable notion that we are a small spec on the bigger wheel of life, featuring these intoxicating scaling shots of forests of trees and 19th century architecture, which conjure the conveyor belt notion of reproductivity that man is directly responsible for, while boxing it all in with an unconventional 3:2 aspect ratio, giving the glowing imagery and intimately photographic feel reminiscent of vintage family photography. As for Dessner’s tenderly touching command, his themes have the immense responsibility of tackling a siesta of emotional impulses that the movie coherently inspires, yet the kind that he’s constantly one step above while utilizing instrumentals that feel like the undying marriage of unconditional love and unrelenting depression, meant to articulate the roller-coaster of emotions that Robert’s life continuously takes him down. Separately, these elements attain enough screen magnetism to really hook you into the kind of isolated and lonely world that Bentley is bringing to life from the novel of the same name by Denis Johnson, but together they work so synthetically towards enriching the experience with every semblance of connective humanity to its adoring audience, relating us all by the commonality in language of love and solitude, which build a foundation of promise that is ten times stronger than any man-made structure. On top of this, I have to give a lot of credit to the production’s natural of the combination between the practical effects involving falling trees and natural lighting, and visual effects pertaining to engulfing flames, which helps to render such a dangerously unpredictable environment that feels as close as possible that some of us will ever get to experiencing these desolate conditions. While the film isn’t an action movie, by any stretch of the imagination, it does conjure some devastatingly abrupt situations that materialize practically out of thin air, leaving these spontaneous jolts of brutality that speaks wonders towards the spontaneity of life, all the while constantly reminding us of the unmeasurable stakes that constantly persist in a career and time where safety measures were even decades ahead of their time. Likewise, the script’s decision to appraise more meaning in the imagery rather than dialogue, with regards to the ambiguity in its passage of time, deliver some subtly effective make-up designs that slowly age Robert before our very eyes, speaking volumes about the urgency of life, full of its unrelenting persistence. Of course, none of this matters if the performances aren’t in-tune with the depths of the characters, and thankfully I can boldly assess that Joel Edgerton gives what I truly feel is a career-defining performance as the quietly reserved Robert. If that summary in character should worry you, consider that Edgerton commands attention in the highly emotive windows to the soul, in their baby blue expressive disarming, as well as facial registries that convey the gut-wrenching extent of so much anguish, remorse, and especially regret, which come to define his character, and though the sweetly natural chemistry that he shares with Felicity Jones is the heavy heart that this movie hangs its earnestness on, it’s those aforementioned isolated instances where Joel truly taps into the fearful and helpless side of the character, brandishing effortless empathy on account of his need to be an endless provider to the family ideals that he holds so close to his honorable intentions. While Edgerton’s work is truly untouchable, the closest to him feels like a thankless supporting turn from William H. Macy, as naturist Arn, whom provides so much of the movie’s profound thoughts from his advantageous wisdom, and while Macy’s portrayal is deduced purely to the movie’s opening act, the precedent set by his appreciative observation rubs off committedly on the rest of the film, with the intimate moments between him and Robert serving as my favorite of the entire movie.

NEGATIVES

Much about “Train Dreams” subscribes to a meditative outlook on life that transcends the typical nature of three-act storytelling, but regretfully there’s much about this movie’s table dressing that doesn’t pay off as monumentally or effectively as I would’ve preferred, leading to some unfulfilling lasting feelings with the extent of the journey that I wish received a more well-rounded screenplay to thoroughly flesh out. Such underwhelming aspects pertain to an observation about Japanese loggers that were unceremoniously dispatched with viscerally gruesome malice, but the script never educates with insight beyond an initial startling scene that permeates more than a stirring reminder to our own current bouts with immigration deportation, instead remaining faithfully alongside Robert, so as not to distract or detract away from the importance of his narrative, resulting in these multiple compact fascinating components to this story that are never approached with any kind of long-term commitment to make them feel like an integral part to the story being told. Beyond this, my only other problem with the film pertained to some personal regrets in the usage of female performances from Felicity Jones and Kerry Condon, who each don’t receive enough screen time to leave a lasting memory in the engagement of their audience. While Condon is deduced to a spirited cameo conveying the quirky familiarities that we’ve come to know her by, Jones is much more of an important character to the proceeding, on account that she’s Robert’s wife and mother of his child, and while the script makes a blatant point to showcase more of Robert’s time away from his family, rather than alongside them intimately, in order to convey the level of commitment with such a craft, I could’ve used more time within their tender dynamic, in order to earn more of an emotional heft to the future of their eventual foundation, leaving one such vital scene void of the kind of overwhelming emotion that Bentley’s direction reaches so heavily towards, but doesn’t fully pull until Robert’s epiphany with the painful truth that he has been hiding from himself.

OVERALL
“Train Dreams” is a breathtakingly radiant and disarmingly human meditation on life, that seamlessly fuses history and nature towards producing a preciousness to the rarity and urgency of living everyday to the fullest. Featuring intoxicating measures of imagery and music, which marry such a profound eloquence amidst the despair and devastation, as well as a career-defining turn from Joel Edgerton physically and emotionally doing all of the heavy lifting, Bentley crafts an affecting film about the value in every spare moment, urging us to grasp it in the palm of our opportunistic hands, before it slips away with tedium of another back-breaking day

My Grade: 9.1 or A