Based on a novella by Denis Johnson, which was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, it's about the life and times of a man who's described as a "hermit in the woods." There are plenty of films that have a character that's akin to a hermit in the woods. It's rare that a film focuses on such a character, but this film by Clint Bentley (Sing Sing and Jockey) wants to spotlight such a person. It's a biopic, one that's not about anyone special or extraordinary like a rock star or a civil rights activist. It's a biopic about a man who lived a lonely life and never did anything notable. He lived a solitary and quiet, uneventful existence. Some might consider a film on that specific topic boring. Some might consider it contemplative and a meditation in cinema form.
With its naturalistic, beautiful cinematography that lingers on the plants and the trees, along with its voice-over narration, I was reminded of Terrence Malick. Many might consider some of Malick's works, particularly the modern-day trilogy he did following The Tree of Life (2011), to be boring. I generously lean on the side of them being contemplative and meditative. Malick's films tend to have a poetic side to them and a momentum, especially in the editing, that gives his narratives an energy and entertainment that's not present in Bentley's work here. Bentley's film is more about somberness, stillness and silence, which have value. However, this film had the opportunity to present more than stillness and silence. It's about grief and how dealing with that grief using stillness and silence can be powerful, but in this context, I'm not sure it's totally effective.
Joel Edgerton (Loving and The Great Gatsby) stars as Robert Grainier, a man born in the 1880's and spends his whole life in the American Northwest. He specifically dwells in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, which is near the Canadian border and in between Washington state and Montana. Robert was orphaned as a young child and seemingly had an early existence that was somewhat lonely. He references having other family, but the film never depicts any of them. If he has friends, there's no depiction of them either. He truly is a lonely, isolated person. His only interactions, though barely interactions, are with his co-workers on his various jobs.
The title of this film comes from the fact that Robert gets a job working for a railroad company that has him building tracks for a line on a bridge across a giant gorge. Robert only has that job very briefly, so briefly that it almost makes the title misleading or certainly not representative of what the film is all about. The film introduces the idea of the racism against Chinese rail workers, which was a real thing, but the film does nothing with it, other than suggesting Robert felt guilt over watching a Chinese man be lynched and him doing nothing about it. This is a change from the novella, which had Robert participating more actively in the lynching. It makes this film less honest and more hagiography.
Felicity Jones (The Brutalist and The Theory of Everything) co-stars as Gladys Olding, the woman who would eventually become the wife of Robert and mother to his daughter. The most we get about her is that she's a member of the church that Robert starts to attend. She knows how to make a fish trap and she can shoot a rifle. That's it. We don't really learn much more about her. The majority of the film has Robert working for a logging company, which means him traveling far from home in order to cut down trees and gather lumber. Instead of "Train Dreams," the film should've been called "Tree Dreams," because so much of the narrative is watching Robert cut down trees. It's such that it becomes a plot point about how much time he's logging trees rather than being home with his wife and daughter.
The film's lack of characterization for Gladys becomes a problem from a writing standpoint. This might be a spoiler, but, about half-way through the story, Gladys and her toddler daughter disappear with no clue what happened to them and no trace. After years and decades go by, the only assumption is that they died, which is likely what happened. That mystery is fine and the fact that it's never resolved is fine. However, the depiction of what Robert does after he learns his wife and child are missing isn't fine.
Robert simply decides to wait in the spot where his home was. He literally sits and waits. Obviously, he's paralyzed by his grief and I can see a person doing that at least in the immediate wake of them going missing. However, the film says years go by, and in fact decades go by. Most men eventually would go to the authorities or search for his wife and child himself. There is zero attempt for Robert to take any steps to find them, even after years. It felt ridiculous.
Eventually, it's made clear that he assumes they're dead, but his lack of effort to find them only underscore that so little characterization about his wife existed in the first place. After she disappears, we don't see any family and friends come to pay their respects or offer condolences. She was a member of a church, but after she vanishes, none of them do anything to show that they cared about her at all. Again, that felt ridiculous.
I was reminded of Chloé Zhao's Nomadland (2021), which is about a person who chooses to live a solitary life. However, the point of that film is the woman making the active choice to do so. Here, Robert isn't making that active choice. It's more the result of people disappearing or dying. Now, Bentley could've made a broader point about a man retreating from society because people about whom he cares keep disappearing and dying. That's not the point here.
Nathaniel Arcand (Sinners and Killers of the Flower Moon) plays Ignatius Jack, a Native American storekeeper who befriends Robert after his wife and child vanish. There are several scenes with Jack and Robert spending time together and raising wolf puppies. One of the reasons for the voice-over narration is because Robert doesn't talk much, but his relationship with Jack could've been an opportunity for him to open up. He does so later with Claire, played by Kerry Condon (F1: The Movie and The Banshees of Inisherin). Yet, Jack knew Robert's wife, so it would've made sense with Jack. Yet, I understand having Condon in the film due to the lack of femininity here, which was a feature not a bug for Bentley's last film, that of Sing Sing.
Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexuality.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 43 mins.
Available on Netflix.