Train Dreams
Starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones
M
5/5
A sad but beautiful life unfolding on-screen, Train Dreams is a sumptuously-shot, superbly-acted film directed by Clint Bentley and based on the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson.
Train Dreams portrays the long life of Robert Grainer (Joel Edgerton), a logger and railwayman in early twentieth-century Idaho. When his wife Gladys (Felicity Jones) and young daughter Katie go missing after a forest fire, Robert remains ever-vigilant for their return.
Edgerton carries himself with melancholic dignity in an Oscar-worthy performance as Robert, a quiet, gentle man who finds solace in hard work.
The grief from Robert’s lost family, and the regret from a racist killing he witnessed and could do nothing to prevent, weigh heavily on Edgerton’s features.
The film’s pacing is episodic, slow and rich, immersing us in Robert’s life: you feel a catch in your throat whenever Robert joyfully returns to his family, your heart sinks when he has to leave again, and aches for him as he deals with his loss.
As Robert finds fulfilling connection with the people passing through his life, death never far from his thoughts, Train Dreams actually reminds me of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 classic The Seventh Seal.
The painterly cinematography is full of fire-lit orange and stark alpine forests, the dialogue is profound but always feels natural, and the simple string score is a perfectly understated accompaniment.
Will Patton narrates Train Dreams, and unlike the narration in The Devil All The Time and The Life of Chuck, Patton’s narration adds texture and clarity instead of over explaining everything.
Train Dreams is available for streaming on Netflix, but it’s shameful that this feast of acting, writing and film making craft didn’t get an Australian cinema release.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
