Train Dreams (2025) review

Birth-to-death portrait of laborer Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) that starts with him not knowing who his parents are, working on the railroads (and seeing Chinese immigrants arrested by the authorities), meeting and marrying Gladys (Felicity Jones) and having a daughter with her, being forced to spend away from home, befriending some odd fellows - most notably explosives man Arn Peeples (William H. Macy) - and then returning to his house to find it's burned down.  This is an adaptation of the late Denis Johnson's 2011 novella and director Bentley tries to emulate the wistful style of Terrence Malick, except the finished product is too mopey-dopey: the voice-over narration by Will Patton (who also voiced the audiobook) is fine but it relies too much on it, and Edgerton is left there looking like a sad lump, isolated from humanity and living mainly in his memories.  It might have worked on the page (I have not read it yet) but the takeaway here is that life consists of fleeting moments of bliss, mostly suffering and pain, witnessing the development of new technologies and then dying alone.  Yippee!