The last few years, he expected some great revelation about his life would descend upon him. But, as of yet, none had.
The dreamy and deeply evocative Train Dreams is a portrait of a very thoughtful man. Robert Granier (Joel Edgerton) is thoughtful, but uneducated, and he doesn’t look at life with any philosophical, religious or political framework. He spends most of life in the stillness of the great primeval forests, with the absence of distractions allowing him to consider what life has given him and what life has taken away. He ponders Why?
In the early 20th century, Robert Granier had been sent, as an orphan boy, to a small town in Idaho. He grew to work as a laborer, on railroad construction projects and on logging old growth forests of Pacific Northwest. His jobs take him off for months at a time, working in ever new teams of strangers. It is always dangerous work, organized without even a casual nod to worker safety.
Granier experiences lots of drudgery, interrupted with moments of terror, sadness, confusion and soaring joy, before a tragic loss settles him into profound grief.
Joel Edgerton is magnificent as Granier, one of those stolid, reserved men of very few words, who is nonetheless very emotional. He’s not flamboyant about it, but he feels things very deeply.
Edgerton first emerged as a hunky Australian action star in the 2010 Australian crime thriller Animal Kingdom before playing the Navy Seal leader in 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty. Since then, he’s written five feature films (including The King with Timothee Chalamet) and directed two. And he has delivered wonderfully nuanced and magnetic performances in movies like Master Gardener and Loving. I especially recommend watching him in The Gift, which he also wrote and directed.
Edgerton has become a filmmaking brand. If Joel Edgerton is in the credits, it’s almost certainly an excellent and substantial film.
Train Dreams benefits from superb performances from the cast of great character actors, led by Felicity Jones, John Diehl, William H. Macy and Clifton Collins, Jr. The standout is Kerry Condon, who is compelling as an indomitable woman who has had equivalent experiences to Granier’s and has worked out her own response.
Train Dreams was directed and co-written by Clint Bentley with his usual writing partner Greg Kwedar, based on the Denis Johnson novella. The pair have also written the screenplays for Jockey (directed by Bentley), Sing Sing and Transpecos (directed by Kwedar). Clifton Collins, Jr. starred in Jockey and appeared in Transpecos.
Bentley makes very effective use of voice-over narration to establish where Granier comes from, literally and figuratively. The narration pairs perfectly with Edgerton’s performance to trace Granier’s internal journey. The fine character actor Will Patton is wonderful as the narrator.
This is a beautiful looking and sounding film. thanks to Bentley, cinematographer Adolpho Veloso and composer Bryce Dessner. The final montage is very moving .
I’ve been reading some Oscar buzz about Train Dreams, and it’s deserving. Train Dreams is one of the Best Movies of 2025, and it’s streaming on Netflix.