Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones lead the cast of the early 20th century-set Train Dreams in Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s acclaimed novella.

Train Dreams follows Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a logger and railroad hand whose seemingly modest life reflects the quiet majesty of a transforming America in the early 20th century. Orphaned as a child, Robert comes of age in the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest, laboring on the expanding railroads with men as rugged as the landscapes they traverse. After a gentle romance, he weds Gladys (Felicity Jones) and they raise a daughter together. But when fate alters his path, Robert is left to seek meaning amid both the harshness and the beauty of the wilderness he has long worked to tame.

As the world changes, Robert has no choice but to change or be left behind. At some point, he must face the fact that his career as a logger is coming to an end, especially as America transitions into an industrialized and modern nation. People still work as loggers, but it is very different from when Robert was helping build railroads and bridges. Like any job, one can only do it for so long. The film shows the impact this life has on people. But in the end, he’s just an average person who lives a life with its own deep meaning.

A lyrical meditation on impermanence, progress, and resilience, Train Dreams pays tribute to a disappearing way of life while evoking the endurance of the human spirit. With elegiac grace, it honors ordinary lives set against extraordinary change, portraying the dreamers and laborers who helped build a future they could scarcely imagine.

And yet, Train Dreams feels timeless. The basics of the story could be placed in another part of the 20th or 21st centuries. Of course, the specifics would need to adjust for advances in technology, but the core idea remains the same: a man walks to the beat of his own drum while the world passes him by.

Joel Edgerton delivers a career-best performance and looks to be a contender for the 98th Oscars in March. He fully brings Robert to life. Felicity Jones also makes the most of her role. Among the supporting cast, William H. Macy stands out as fellow logger Arn Peeples. His performance could earn him a shot at Best Supporting Actor. Edgerton and Macy give the film its strongest chances for earning acting nominations. Beyond that, Netflix has another serious Oscar contender on their hands.

Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar have been working together since Transpecos. They’ve since teamed up in one way or another on Jockey, Sing Sing, Train Dreams, and upcoming titles include Saturn Return, N.A.R., and Possum Song. It goes without saying: if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. From what I’ve seen of their filmography, the results have been nothing short of impressive. This is their first time adapting a work of fiction for the screen. The film runs 102 minutes, while the novella spans about 116–128 pages, which can usually be read in 90 minutes.

Much like the novella, Train Dreams covers Grainier’s life, but Bentley and Kwedar’s script finds moments worth lingering on before moving forward. That’s how we meet Claire (Kerry Condon) when she comes to work sometime after the wildfire. They could have expanded the story into their own, but then we’d be looking at a six-hour series instead of a film just shy of two hours.

The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, shortly after the devastating LA wildfires. The January wildfires were the first thing that came to mind as I watched the film during TIFF. As such, it will be interesting to see how the film plays in Los Angeles when it opens in November.

Train Dreams isn’t adapted from the Great American Novel or the life of someone who changed history. Instead, its power lies in elevating one man’s ordinary path into something epic, a reflection of the American Dream and the harsh, breathtaking landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. Train Dreams is truly one of the best pictures of the year.

DIRECTOR: Clint Bentley
SCREENWRITER: Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
NARRATOR: Will Patton
CAST: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Nathaniel Arcand, Alfred Hsing, Clifton Collins Jr., John Diehl, Paul Schneider, with Kerry Condon and William H. Macy

Train Dreams held its International premiere during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Presentations program. Netflix will release the film in select theaters on November 7, 2025, and stream globally on November 21, 2025. Grade: 4.5/5

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