Director: Clint Bentley
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon, William H. Macy
Rating: (M)
★★★★+
REVIEWED BY AMASIO JUTEL
Despite a lack of narrative structure and frequent flashes forward and back through time, Clint Bentley’s quiet drama about a logger in early 20th-century America relentlessly moves like the train it dreams of. Robert Grainier’s (Joel Edgerton) spiritual journey through forest and family sustains a mesmeric energy and pulsating emotion for its brief runtime.
Dream sequences and flashes of memory circle the narrative, swelling and fading like memories of those who come and go from our lives. Robert’s own life is full; hope and grief seep into the cracks of his sombre logging occupation.
This is especially felt in Train Dreams’ (Netflix) indifference to plot arc — the film is a deeply character-driven well of life that the stunning cinematography and careful performance animate through Robert. He’s not exceptional; he’s every one of us, but "different", no less complex for it.
Departed characters haunt the empty spaces captured by the cinematographer’s exquisite framing in and through the nature being torn down as the new world rises up.
Each rhythmic beat of the edit breathes in the greenery, and exhales in full breaths the warmth of Train Dreams’ soul.
Edgerton’s powerhouse performance is perfectly measured, coming into full shape in the emotional climax at the end of the film.
It is passionate and powerful, taking us back through Robert’s life as a lens into the power of relationships and memories.
Running through these emotional veins are themes of labour exploitation and immigrant mistreatment, expertly transposed from the source novella by the pair (Bentley and Greg Kwedar) behind 2024’s incredible and intimate prison drama, Sing Sing.
