Alex Wheeler Movie Ops

Film is often thought about in terms of scale. Budget, length, awards. Cinemas are filled with the roar of battles waged, but there’s always been room for smaller stories, ones that remind you that films are as much art as entertainment.

Train Dreams goes for art, its scale less about the things that draw headlines than the minutiae of life. Life is huge, after all. It’s the only thing any of us are assured, making even the smallest life rich fodder for director and co-writer Clint Bentley to luxuriate in.

His focus is Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a quiet man whose life begins as America is still being connected by the expanding railway system. It slowly, almost imperceptibly, extends into the space age, the years slipping by in a feat of pacing that is languid but never slow. It’s odd to remember that a life can include such drastically different versions of existence, but hey, I remember getting the internet for the first time. This expanse is merely a backdrop, though, as is the rough and violent development of America. These ideas are too large for one man to grasp, and Train Dreams never strays from Robert’s small life. 

He begins as a solitary young man in Idaho. Then comes his wife, Gladys (Felicity Jones), and their daughter. He would’ve happily made them his whole life, but money must be made, and he has no formal skills. So he takes on far-flung manual labor jobs, first building the railroads. There, he sees brutality in the name of progress. A Chinese co-worker is dragged off by a group of white men and thrown from the bridge they’ve constructed. Robert and the audience never get an explanation. It’s wanton violence fueled by hatred that haunts Robert for the rest of his life, a personal example of the horrors America is built upon.

But his life also includes Gladys and the home they create. Their cabin nestled by a river is idyllic in its simplicity. Robert’s love for her and their child gives his life purpose, and perhaps if he could’ve held onto them he could’ve put away everything he witnesses with more ease. But tragedies come with the rapacious passage of time, and Robert sees many more horrors.

Even as events stack up, Train Dreams never becomes a grind. No matter what Robert encounters, his gentle nature remains at the fore, reminding the audience of all the good people who have navigated forgotten lives. Because of this nature, he doesn’t influence the course of history. He simply witnesses it, often marvels at it, and just as often is baffled by it. 

Edgerton must navigate the whole breadth of this journey, and he delivers a subtly stunning performance. It’s difficult to keep such a passive character fascinating, but he imbues Robert with so much keen awareness that his lack of action doesn’t feel lacking. He’s always processing, considering, and feeling the events that pass by him. He’s backed up by the pitch-perfect narration of Will Patton, which nods to its origins as a novella of the same name by Denis Johnson. Patton recorded the audiobook, even, and the way his gravely, no-nonsense voice keeps the film from spinning off into pretension shows why he landed both jobs. Other remarkable characters come and go from Robert’s life, like William H. Macy’s fatherly Arns and Kerry Condon’s Claire, whose work with the forestry service intrigues Robert in his later years. The immaculate work of cinematographer Adolpho Veloso becomes more than a supporting player. The wide eye of his lens takes in the immensity surrounding Robert: the centuries-old trees, the destruction of a wildfire, and whatever it is Robert is supposed to be doing with all this time. The latter is the fundamental idea Train Dreams ponders. Life seems to extend into perpetuity until it doesn’t, and no matter how long you have to live, one will periodically wonder why you’re there to experience it. It’s not so neat as to give an answer. Instead, it follows one man who occasionally wonders the same thing. Sometimes, it sees him observing others asking the same question. And sometimes, he forgets the question entirely, because even his small life proves too full to be constantly preoccupied with such difficult questions. And in observing that small life, Train Dreams comes as close to answering the why of life as one can.

Release: streaming on Netflix
Director: Clint Bentley
Writers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon, William H. Macy