Displaying items by tag: Clive Bentley

TRAIN DREAMS

US, 2025, 102 minutes, Colour.

Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H.Macy, Clifton Collins Jr, Alfred Hsing, Paul Schneider, Nathanial Arcand, John Diehl. Narrated by Will Patton.

Directed by Clint Bentley.

Here is an impressive piece of Americana. It is based on an award-winning novella of the same name by Dennis Johnson, 2011. It has been written and directed by Clint Bentley, with his collaborator, Greg Kweder, who were Oscar-nominated for the screenplay for the recent Sing Sing.

This is a film about a very ordinary American, Robert Granier, birth to death, from the 1880s to the 1960s, an extraordinary span of change. In most ways, Robert Granier could be considered to have lived what might be called “an unremarkable life”. As a boy, not knowing who his parents were, sent to live in a small town, accepted, growing up there, ordinary jobs around the town, the years passing, nothing particularly much happening.

By the time he is 30, he is working as a logger, chopping the trees, sawing them, out on locations, the railways, laying tracks, building bridges, but just one of the group of similar men, most rather introspective, the silent types, dedicated to their work.

Robert Granier is played by Australian Joel Edgerton, a fine performance, and because of his not being conversational, the film has a frequent voice-over, by actor Will Patton, who is able to articulate what the quiet Robert cannot: his ordinary life and work, encounters with his fellow workers, surprise at the prejudice against the Chinese and shock when the workers throw one of the Chinese over a bridge, later feeling guilt about this occasion, and, on a return home, encountering Gladys, Felicity Jones, at church, she initiating the friendship which leads to marriage, the building of a house, the birth of their daughter, joy for them both, but a surprising joy for Robert.

The film moves at a measured pace, offering the audience a lot of time for reflection, opportunities for a ruminative response, even offering moments that could lead to meditation on life and its meaning. And, there are the dreams, Robert’s happy dreams, after a destructive fire unhappy dreams and hauntings.

Out in the forests, there are some interesting characters, especially William H Macy as Arn, an explosives expert, friendly, chatty, a sad death but an influence on Robert.

There is some hope for Robert later in his life, an encounter with a nurse from World War I, Kerry Condon, who is billeted at one of those towers built to observe and prepare for wildfires. And, finally, after living in his house without any amenities for so many decades, he ventures into the city, the 1960s, space exploration – and the offer of a ride in a small plane, to see the world from a bird’s point of view, but an exhilarating experience which brings back, visually on the screen for the audience, his images and memories, the people who were influential in his life, reminding him and us of his unremarkable but humanely ordinary life.

1. Popularity and awards of the original novella? The adaptation close to the spirit of the novella?
2. A piece of Americana, in the 19^th century into the 20^th, into the 1960s? From birth to death? A life lived, well-lived? The transition from the 1880s to the 1960s, the title and the symbolism of the railroads, branching out, travelling communication and, at the same time, the destruction of forests, the laying of tracks, building bridges? The train dreams of the development of the United States?
3. The photography, the forests, the railroads? The trees, the loggers work? The house and building it, the interiors? The various camps? The visits to the town? The photography of the fire? Going to the lookout? The later visits in the 20^th century? The atmospheric and meditative score?
4. The use of the narration, the tone of the voice-over, the voice-over important because of the silence of Robert?
5. The range of dreams, Robert’s imagination, subconscious surfacing, happy memories, nightmare memories, imaginative fantasies about his wife and daughter?
6. Robert’s story, from the 1880s to the 1960s? His background, scenes as a boy, no knowledge of his parents, living in the town, growing up? A silent boy, introverted? Growing up, work, moving to logging, the logging community, the experience of prejudice against the Chinese, the man thrown over the bridge, the effect on Robert and his consciousness, conscience? Going to church, Gladys and her approach, their keeping company, her saying it was a marriage and they need a ceremony to ratify it, life together, the birth of the baby, the joy of the baby, the details of life at home? His coming home in the happy reunions?
7. The details of Robert’s life, seemingly unremarkable but ordinary, his quiet, reflections? The friendships amongst the loggers? The preacher and his story, the pursuer arriving and shooting him? African-American? Arn, his age, explosives expert, the failure, success, his friendship with Robert, the conversations, the tree hitting him, affecting his mind, his death, the burial and the words?
8. Returning home, the train rides, the fire, its intensity, the burning of the house? Robert returning, loss, grief?
9. Robert, at home, gradual rebuilding, life alone, the years passing? The encounter with Billy, getting old, his loss of memory, thinking Arn was still alive? And Robert getting older?
10. His work, the carriage and horses, carrying the goods? His quiet life, the encounter with a large bear? The dogs becoming part of his life?
11. Clare, giving her the lift, her job, nurse during the war, the death of her husband? Friendship, conversation, shared wisdom? Her work, the tower, and the view from the tower?
12. The years passing, Robert’s simple life, none of the amenities and technical developments of the 20^th century? The decision to go to Spokane, the 1960s, space exploration, the man calling out to take him into the air, the realm of the birds? His going on the flight, the experience, some transcendence in his life?
13. In the flight, the opportunity for the images of his life to recur, the range of people in his life, the sadness and happiness in his unremarkable life? And his death?