Train Dreams
(2025 | USA | 102 minutes | Clint Bentley)

Opening in the late 1800s with a spectacular shot of a massive tree falling in the woods (shot from the perspective of the tree) and spanning decades into the dawning twentieth century, Train Dreams was one of the major premieres to emerge from this year’s Sundance. Reminiscent of First Cow in its careful attention to the practicalities of life on the outer reaches of Manifest Destiny, the gentle visual poetry of nature meets the rough edges of a logging life in the splendor of the Pacific Northwest.

Clint Bentley’s Malick-esque adaptation of the Denis Johnson novella is told entirely through third person omniscient narration. Through a series of lyrical episodes, we follow of one orphan’s life from being sent West by train to northern Idaho and eventually building a life for himself in eastern Washington. As Robert Grainier, a turn-of-the-century day laborer haunted by the harsh tragedies of a life on the frontier, Joel Edgerton makes for a soulful hermit guide. We follow him from dangerous job to dangerous job, often cutting down trees, sometimes building railroads, forever longing for the comforts of his wife (Felicity Jones), daughter, and the riverside homestead they built together.

His world away from his beloved family is one populated by motley array of quiet characters who together built the West as we know it. Characters ebb and flow, telling stories around campfires, falling prey to racist violence, or dispensing frontier wisdom (in the film’s strongest supporting performance, William H. Macy disappears into a role as an old-timer), leaving lasting impressions and even deeper more haunting regrets.

Adolpho Veloso’s mesmerizing and naturalistic cinematography captures the deep greens of unspoiled nature, the ever-forward march of progress, and the devastating fires that irrevocably transform lives. Scored by the National’s Bryce Dessner, the mediative film centers on one man, but through him it captures the vast lived experience spanning railroads to the jet age with the profound sweep of the complex beauty of life.

Soon after its premiere, the film was acquired by Netflix and it has since emerged on the festival circuit as one of their leading awards contenders. It’ll appear online in late November, but as one of the most beautiful films depicting the intimate and spectacular beauty of the Pacific Northwest in recent memory, it’s worth a big screen viewing.

The original version of this review ran when Train Dreams played as an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. It has a one-night-only Seattle Premiere as part of the Seattle Film Critics Best PNW Film Series on October 29th at SIFF Downtown.
Image courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Adolpho Veloso.

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