Train Dreams. Something about this fictional story beckoned. Was that because it was set in the 20th-century logging era? Or was it that Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, and William H. Macy were in it? I could hardly tell. But soon my husband, Dave, and I were watching a tender and artful movie with a touch of magical realism.
The story concerns logger Robert Grainier, an orphan who flounders until he meets the love of his life, Gladys Olding (Felicity Jones). As husband and wife, they build a cabin on their land in beautiful Idaho. But jobs are scarce, and Robert must leave home seasonally for far-off logging camps. He earns good money, but the time away is costly. And one day it becomes very, very costly.
After tragedy shreds Robert’s life, he moves through the years changed and blunted. When a “happy-ever-after” close call comes and then departs, I wondered, where is this going? How are they going to end this?
Let me tell you: The last words of the voice over ends the story masterfully. Brilliant, I thought. Brilliant and beautiful. As the credits rolled, my therapist husband whispered, “Every once in a while a movie comes along and sets everything right again.”
And that’s about the best one can say about any story, I think. Train Dreams is rich for Christian reflection, as it tells us about suffering and how to live with heart amid profound suffering. It is not for viewers who want only entertainment. It’s for viewers who think and feel deeply about life. It’s a marrow-of-the-bone story—as W.B. Yeats might say.
Joel Edgerton’s acting is exceptional—and award-winning, I hope. This Australian actor plays Robert quietly and with depth. Edgerton’s credits include three Star Wars movies, Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings, and, more recently, The Boys in the Boat.
Felicity Jones plays the winsome Gladys Olding, a woman who knows a good man when she meets him. Viewers will recall this English actress from the likes of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Aeronauts, and The Basis of Sex.
Director Chris Bentley, also the co-scriptwriter, is known for Jockey, a 2021 drama. His work in Train Dreams is likened to the work of Terrance Malick.
The film is based on a 2011 Pulitzer-nominated novella by American author Denis Johnson, who attended and later taught at the Iowa Workshop.
Sudden short scenes of violence occur several times throughout the story. The pace, themes of suffering, and violence invite a mature audience. (Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence, and brief, non-explicit sexuality between a husband and wife. Netflix)