Train Dreams

When the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture were announced last month, there were two movies that I had not seen yet (click on the titles to read my commentaries on Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sentimental Value, and Sinners).  Since I always like to see each of the nominees on the big screen, I went to a double feature for the remaining movies yesterday beginning with Train Dreams.  It is a hauntingly beautiful and meditative look at the extraordinary story of America at the beginning of the 20th century through the eyes of an ordinary man.  Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is brought to the Pacific Northwest on a train as an orphan with no recollection of his parents and spends his early years alone and without purpose until he meets and falls in love with Gladys (Felicity Jones).  They build a cabin on an acre of land near a river and have a daughter named Kate but he is forced to leave them for long periods of time to work in the logging and railroad industries which transform the country.  As he witnesses the rapid growth taking place around him, he has many experiences, including a series of tragedies involving strangers, co-workers, and family members, which cause him to search for meaning.  What I loved most about the narrative is that there is no answer and yet Grainier still continues to live with hope and the memories of those lost all around him.  It is slow but incredibly moving and I loved Edgerton's restrained performance (one of his very best) because he is able to evoke so many emotions with very little dialogue (so much so that the voice-over narration by Will Patton sometimes feels intrusive).  There is a large supporting cast of characters who drift in and out of Grainier's life but I especially loved William H. Macy as Arn Peeples, a grizzled explosives expert, and Kerry Condon as Claire Thompson, a surveyor for the U.S. Forest Service.  The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous (I lost count of how many times I was mesmerized by the beauty of a particular shot) and the atmospheric score by Bryce Dessner enhances the otherworldly vibe.  I really loved this and highly recommend it!