Based on a novella by Clint Bently this is the arc of the life of a man named Robert Grainier. Grainier works for the rail road clearing trees in the early part of the 20th century, marries, has a daughter and ponders his place in the world.
Feeling more like an illustrated novella then a full on film at times TRAIN DREAMS is beautiful film that nicely fits into the current Oscar race. This is a film that is operating on a slightly higher artistic plane (it echoes Malick but is its own thing) than most films with the literary nature of the story coming from the fact that much of what we know about the characters and situations comes from a ominpresent narration. This is a film where we don't witness life as lived abut experience it through the eyes of a god like storyteller who tells us the way things are.
This is a wonderful highbrow film that deserves all the accolades that it has won. I completely understand why many people have fallen madly in love with it. Expect tons of Oscar nominations and year end awards.
On the other hand, as great as it is on so many levels I never went into full on crazy love for the film. It's not because the film is bad, more that the literary and artistic nature of the telling and of the story made me feel more that this was a work of art and not a representation of life as lived. . Some of what happens felt less organic, and was instead because this is the way artistic novellas go. Additionally as much as I absolutely adore the narration and its use of language to make us feel the exact emotion, I would have liked to have had the emotion played out or spoken by the cast, instead of having it express by "god" over staring faces. We should not to have been told every meaningful notion and would have prefered to see it or experience it (I'm looking at you final bit of dialog)
Quibbles aside, this is a stunning achievement. It's a beautiful small scale film that deserves to be in the discussion of the best of 2025, even if I'm not completely there.
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