“Train Dreams,” Clint Bentley’s glorious rendering of Denis Johnson’s elliptical novella borders on visual poetry as it profoundly observes one man’s existence. It’s a transcendent experience that echoes the best elements of Terrence Malick’s films, particularly in how a wandering camera caresses and gazes at the awesomeness, and danger, of nature. But “Train Dreams” never gets manacled by arc creative pretensions, resisting the urge to surrender to opaqueness (which doesn’t always happen in Malick’s films). It also never strays from its intentions or purpose, nor the truth of its main character.
Narrated with a comforting intonation by actor Will Patton that you want to wrap your arms around, “Dreams’ journeys through the life of 20th-century Pacific Northwest logger and day laborer Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) as he engages in his taciturn fashion with people who matter to him; a devoted lover (Felicity Jones), a precocious young daughter, a quotable coworker (William H. Macy) with a philosophical bent and, later, an isolated forest worker (Kerry Condon) whose words open Robert’s grief-veiled eyes to an epiphanous dawning that others have weathered life’s terrible blows and learned to reconcile with them.
Johnson’s book and Bentley’s film are reflective odes to the contributions made by a quiet and ordinary person, someone overlooked by history books. The kind of man who in today’s celebrity-obsessed culture would be dismissed as “unremarkable.” But he matters. This hard worker and decent guy goes through life without getting an award, a statue, a commendation, yet plays an essential part in making America a better place. Robert’s story seems harvested from the Pacific Northwest of long ago. And in “Train Dreams” you can practically breath in that air and marvel at the overwhelming.
Bentley and his creative collaborator Greg Kwedar — Oscar nominees for “Sing Sing’s” screenplay — bring Johnson’s spare, intentional words to sensitive life, and reflect how a violent accident — in this case, the death of a Chinese day laborer — can haunt someone’s life forever.
In order to make “Train Dreams” such a “felt” experience, everything needs to be in sync with Bentley’s vision, and it gets realized through Adolfo Veloso’s achingly majestic cinematography, Bryce Dessner’s hypnotic score and Alexandra Schaller’s Spartan and authentic production design.
Much of its success lies on the shoulders of Edgerton, who delivers an unerring performance — his best yet. It is marvelously restrained, with Edgerton managing to convey volumes about who Robert Grainier is in just one look, one gesture and in the way in which he listens to and loves others. It’s a performance made all the more phenomenal by how little it calls attention to itself.
Given Edgerton’s quiet and textured performance, and how unrushed and delicate “Train Dreams” is, there’s a fear that this meditation on one man’s existence might be outshined by louder films. What a shame that would be. “Train Dreams” isn’t filled with bombast or cinematic bravado. It is more at home with silences, the natural word and graceful, soul-piercing observations on the timetable of one man’s life. It’s a film that all but welcomes and nurtures, telling us that, in the end, we all matter. Details: 4 stars out of 4; drops Nov. 21 on Netflix.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrady@gmail.com.
‘TRAIN DREAMS’
4 stars out of 4
Rated: PG-13 (some violence and sexual situations)
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon, William H. Macy
Director: Clint Bentley
Running time: 1 hour, 42 minutes
When & where: Premieres Nov. 21 on Netflix