Movie Review: Train Dreams

In this excerpt from episode 1809 of No Rest for the Weekend, William J. Hammon (ActuallyPaid.com) a reviews Train Dreams starring Joel Edgerton.

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Show theme & Music by Christopher Gillard

Written by
Yasin Lago
Jason Godbey

Produced & Created by Jason Godbey

Bill's review:
Hands down the best narrative feature that I saw at AFI Fest, Train Dreams will be campaigning hard this Awards Season, and rightfully so. Based on the novella by Denis Johnson, the film is directed by Clint Bentley and co-written with Greg Kwedar, reuniting the duo behind last year’s Oscar-nominated Sing Sing (Kwedar directed the pair’s previous outing), creating a sort of tone poem of a man’s journey through life and the people who weave their way through it.

Joel Edgerton gives his best performance since Loving as Robert Grainier, a logger in the early 20th century. A grown orphan with no formal education, Robert makes an honest living making lumber and helping to build railroads. A spontaneous instance of bigotry and violence traumatises him early in the film, the memory of which haunts his titular nightmares. Still, he finds his happiness, marrying a kind woman named Gladys (Felicity Jones) and having a daughter. It breaks his heart every time he has to leave them behind for another season in the forests, but he takes pride in building a good life for all of them.

Several supporting players enter and exit his life, including an excellent William H. Macy as a seasoned member of the crew who waxes philosophical about the work they do, and a memorable brief turn from Kerry Condon late in the film as a wildlife ranger.

Aside from the performances and the script (the dialogue might be a touch too clever for its own good at times, but mostly it adds to the film’s charm), the artistic and technical elements are superb. Bently shot the film using only natural lighting, highlighting the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. The editing is incredibly strong, blurring the line between reality and fantasy at times in a way that feels completely organic. Bryce Dessner of The National provides an ethereal - and oftentimes chilling - ambient score, along with an original song co-written and performed by Nick Cave.

I compare this film to a similar work that came out earlier in 2025, The Life of Chuck. Both movies are about the special moments in otherwise mundane lives. The other picture is fantastical and sentimental in a lot of points, which for the most part work (especially the impromptu dance scene), whereas Train Dreams is more It’s a Wonderful Life by way of Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow. This is a film about a man who sees the world changing around him but doesn’t know how to adapt, because he never really had a guiding hand. He experiences euphoric highs and devastating lows, and no matter what happens he has to simply keep on keeping on, no matter what comes. This is a lyrical story about how so many people impact our lives, and how we impact others in turn, for good or ill, and trying to figure out the best way forward in spite of it all, as well as in celebration of it.

Train Dreams will be released in theaters November 7, then streaming on Netflix starting November 21.