Train Dreams (2025) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nk8TrBHOrA

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

It’s not easy to go through life, but if Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams taught anything, the journey is still worthwhile once it’s over.


PLOT


Narrated by Will Patton, the 2025 adaptation chronicles the life of Robert Grainier. He grew up an orphan and dropped out of school with no purpose in life, making ends meet as a laborer/logger/construction worker etc. As an adult, he’d fall in a love with a lady named Gladys Olding, who he’d marry and have a child with, that they would name Kate. Whenever he goes to his various jobs, he’d see more tragedy than anyone can prepare for, from seeing a Chinese man get thrown off a bridge, to a black man killing another worker out of vengeance for his brother, and seeing others get crushed by falling trees resulting in them to nail boots to other trees in their honor. Wanting to work closer to home in a post WWI economy, Gladys pitches him to build a lumber mill but after coming back from another logging season to be his last, she and Kate are nowhere to be found following a wildfire. When respondent, Robert would be comforted by an indigenous friend, Ignatius Jack, who helps him rebuild the cabin. He would soon stop logging when overwhelmingly surrounded by younger workers. He’d take the job of carriage driving, where he’d also befriend Claire Thompson of the United States Forest Service. As Robert would continue to walk through the woods, he’d start sensing the spirits of his family. He does later confide with Claire of what he’s going through, and she relates to his grief when sharing how her husband died of an illness. One other night does he believe to have found Kate injured and tries tending to her, only to find her by morning but remains in the cabin should she return. As time keeps passing by, he’d be aging and weathered to the point of riding into Spokane to see the Mercury-Atlas 6 expedition on television. On one spring day, he would ride a biplane where he’d get to fly in circles and recount all the places & people that have passed throughout his long life. Patton’s narration would conclude that Robert would die in 1968 and leave no heirs behind but on the day he flew, he felt at last connected to it at all.


THOUGHTS


It’s not easy to catch up with Netflix since they drop content weekly if not daily as the streaming juggernaut it is, but when you make the time to see what they cook, you can you amazed of the final product. This was something that went under the radar for me for a little bit, but it of course recaptured my attention during awards season. Knowing Clint Bentley would return to the directors chair and Greg Kwedar would cowrite with him like before, it felt set in stone that something special was in the air. This isn’t any ordinary story per se because through Adolph Veseo’s cinematography, you pick up on the essence of evolution that is done with patience because that is how life is digested. When also hearing the titular song by Nick Cave, everything just comes together in sharing the movie’s point saying that when hardship comes, cherish connection and find the strength to keep on living or the rest of it just ends in misery. Joel Edgerton gives a somber performance through living so quietly. He’s a guy that cherished connection because he grew up alone and never wanted it to stay that way. Either Nathaniel Arcand making a loyal friend of Ignatius Jack in their given time and William H Macy being colorful as Arn Peeples, a coworker who too died on the job, Robert appreciated having these people in his lives because he understood the people you meet along the way make life special. When it came to Gladys, that was his whole world because Felicity Jones knew how to give the directness to him when he needed it. All she wanted was to be with him to the point she was willing to work with him before the lumber mill became a possibility. Losing someone that gives such warmth is a no brainer in feeling like your world had fallen apart. With such a loss, it would definitely be hard to move on. Thankfully, that feeling when Robert met Claire. Kerry Condon was a delight here because she got to pass on the empathy he was missing. Considering she was able to relate to what he was going through and share her past experience, that was enough for him to eventually let go. That final act to do so visibly came out when it came to riding that biplane. That scene was so beautiful for expressing how therapeutic of a moment it was for him. From then on, he was able to live and die peacefully which is all anyone can ask for when it's all over. In short, Train Dreams is a deserving Best Picture nominee for inspiring viewers how to get past setbacks in order to enjoy life going forward. If you got Netflix and prefer such movies, check this out when you can.