And we're back with another page in the Oscar Film Journal, here at Enuffa.com!
I did some 2025 catch-up viewing this past weekend and one of the films in question was Train Dreams, directed and co-written by Clint Bentley and starring Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones and William H. Macy. Based on a 2011 novella by Denis Johnson, Train Dreams tells the story of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker living mostly in Idaho in the early 20th century. Robert was orphaned as a child and sort of drifts through life as a young man until he meets Gladys and the two fall instantly in love. They build a cabin and have a daughter, and Robert supports them by spending months at a time away, working the forests of the Northwest and helping build the railroad that would connect the two halves of the nation. One day on the job he witnesses a group of his white coworkers murder a Chinese worker, and he becomes wracked with guilt that he didn't do anything to stop them. For years he's certain he will experience grave misfortune as comeuppance for his inaction.
I don't really want to divulge more than that, but Train Dreams is one of those methodically-paced, dreamlike dramas that spans many years and paints a subtle portrait of a man's life. Will Patton provides helpful narration that allows Joel Edgerton and the rest of the cast to give very understated, internalized performances. Edgerton in particular lets his expressive eyes do a lot of the work, while William H. Macy's gaunt, wizened appearance does wonders in conveying the decades that have worn his character down to the nub.
In the tradition of Terence Malick and Stanley Kubrick, Train Dreams is a meditative, almost gentle bit of filmmaking. Cinematographer Adolpho Veloso gives us picturesque visuals that keep us at arm's length from events but draws us in close on facial reactions to them. Like Malick he often uses wide-angle lenses and gives us little documentary-style slice-of-life scenes, and like Kubrick he often begins scenes with a long, slow zoom-out, showing us the character gradually being dwarfed by their surroundings. Even when horrific events happen, like the aforementioned murder or numerous logging-related accidents, they're depicted with a light touch. Instead of letting us experience the full tragedy of the situation, Robert shoulders the weight of these events for us, ever carrying them around like a sack of bricks.
Patton's voiceover work helps fill in the gaps left by the sparse dialogue but also ties the whole narrative together, as the portrait of a seemingly inconsequential life that nonetheless made a small mark on other lives. We all change our little worlds in some way, some of us more than others of course, but our lives are all connected, making tiny splashes in the ever-flowing river of time. Even the most solitary person still leaves a footprint; "The dead tree is as important as the living one."
Train Dreams can be a challenging watch since it is so quiet and so deliberately paced, but it's also a beautiful-looking bit of cinematic poetry about the frail human condition. One of the most thoughtful films of this year's field.
I give the film ***1/2 out of ****.
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