Why you can trust TechRuther
We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Learn more about how we test.
As a press delegate at the London Film Festival, your watchlist usually runs into double figures – but two weeks on, the film I’m still thinking about is Train dreams. In all honesty, there’s no higher praise you can give a movie, especially one that most people haven’t seen yet.
In an age where we want everything instantly (including answers to the questions movies make us ask), it’s a brave move to choose a slow-moving story. It’s even braver when said story isn’t familiar to most people, and demands that we don’t go in with prior knowledge to see a deeply personal journey.
Here’s how to best experience the new Netflix movie based on the Dennis Johnson novel of the same name. Combined, the streamer and the story are demanding that we leave our minds and belongings at the door to relive the life and death of Robert Grenier, a lumberjack working on the railroad in the early 1900s.
Sure, there are plenty of steel tracks that ferry passengers from A to B, but Grenier’s occupation is the least interesting thing about his life. Joel Edgerton plays him with such an overwhelming sense of masculinity that you can’t help but become invested in his life, loves, and the world around him (and that’s only briefly).
Train Dreams is the least beautiful Netflix movie of the year
look
Overall, I can’t tell you how impressed I am with Netflix for gifting us Train dreams. I was initially skeptical about whether a streaming platform would be the right fit, but being able to watch in the privacy of your own home echoes the personal intimacy we see through Grenier and the film itself.
Edgerton runs away with it, and thanks to his determination to risk it all. On the surface, Granular is archeology’s man’s man.
Yet Edgerton manages to portray a man who would do anything for his wife and daughter, and treat them with as much authority and respect as he would anyone working with him. He’s open about his feelings, letting himself break down in front of Gladys (Felicity Jones) and Claire (Carrie Condon) respectively as life becomes something he doesn’t recognize and can’t grasp. He has done wrong, and his conscience is troubled because of it.
It’s an amazing portrait of a man wrapped up in the turmoil of a lifetime, and I can’t think of a better point in time for us to quietly reflect on what it means to be a man than now. Life is hard, and Granular has it the hardest, and it all makes for a beautiful invitation to introspection … something that’s still actively shaping my worldview a few weeks later.
It’s all about meaning, but don’t miss what you’re seeing on the screen
Although focusing on the more glorious fruits of Grenier’s laboring life, what we see on screen reflects that. Train dreams‘The aesthetic is shrouded in a mist, keeping the secrets of the past and future at bay as we get lost in the present. The landscape of rural America is not spectacular, essentially becoming a secondary character or member of the grain family.
Train dreams It’s a story bound together by compassion, and I felt something bigger open up in my heart and mind as I watched. I longed to visit my love, my family, my sense of place, and of course the beautiful location of the film, absorbing it with nothing but my surroundings. Although this subject is often difficult to evoke and process, these hopeful moments—the way we live our entire lives—serve as a mental palette cleanser.
There are problems here too. For those who aren’t a fan of the slow burn, Train dreams It takes a significant amount of time to ignite its fire properly, and it can cause damage once it’s released into the vast world. I see Condon’s character as Claire being more consistent throughout the film (or at least giving her more screen time after she’s introduced), and I predict that people may be left unsatisfied with the way Grenier’s life ends. To me, it’s the perfect salute to life’s natural cruelty.
Netflix is ​​really hitting a fast pace this year to offer us everything in moderation, and Train dreams Another successful string to his bow. In such a saturated release window (we’re heading into awards season, after all), I can see it getting lost in the fanfare, but I can’t urge you enough to get on board for a ride on the train that will convert you.
Train dreams Releases on Netflix on November 21, 2025.
Follow TechRather on Google News And Add us as a preferred source Get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds. Be sure to click the follow button!
And of course you can too Follow TechRuther on TechTalk For news, reviews, unboxing in video form, and get regular updates from us WhatsApp a lot
1 Comment
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!