There are frontier stories that roar with violence, and then there are the ones that move like weather across a life — gradual, shaping, unspoken. The gorgeous drama, “Train Dreams,” the latest film from director Clint Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar, belongs firmly to the latter tradition. The filmmakers behind “Jockey,” “Transpecos,” and Kwedar’s acclaimed “Sing Sing” have long gravitated toward stories about working people on the margins of America, and here they adapt Denis Johnson’s celebrated novella about a logger whose quiet, unadorned existence stretches across the shifting landscape of the early 20th century.
At the center is Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a railroad worker whose outwardly modest life carries emotional weight that has accumulated over the decades. Edgerton, who also serves as an executive producer, explained why the role resonated with him. “There’s a real potency to the quiet, ordinary life that most of us live,” he told Netflix’s Tudum. Speaking about Grainier, he added, “Robert is absorbing the blows of the world, and moving in the streams and avenues that he’s allowed to move in, based on the life that he’s been given and the upbringing he had.”
For Bentley, the material struck a personal chord. “What always really attracted me about ‘Train Dreams’… it reminded me of a lot of people in my family and in my life,” he said. “I think most of us will never have some great impact on history, and yet we will lead very, very deep and beautiful lives.”
The Playlist’s Sundance review called Edgerton’s performance “career-best,” noting how the film “glides across time and existence like cinematic poetry.” Edgerton is joined by Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy, shaping what early critics have described as a quietly affecting ensemble.
After premiering at Sundance, making its international debut at TIFF, and earning a certified-fresh 95 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, “Train Dreams” is now approaching its streaming release, and I must tell you, it’s one of the best films of the year.
“Train Dreams” premieres on Netflix this Friday, November 21. Watch the final trailer below.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
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