Train Dreams Review: A Journey Through Grief and Solitude on Netflix

Train Dreams is an American drama that premiered on Netflix on November 21, 2025. Based on the acclaimed novella by American author Denis Johnson, the film portrays the life of an ordinary laborer during the expansion of the railroads in the early twentieth century.

The film was directed by Clint Bentley, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Greg Kwedar. This is the same creative duo behind the acclaimed 2023 film Sing Sing. The cast features Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, and Will Patton.

As one of Netflix's breakout hits of 2025, the film is heading into the 2026 awards season as a top contender for the Oscars. It has already made history following a landmark win by Brazilian cinematographer Adolpho Veloso, who received the award for Best Cinematography at the Critics Choice Awards.

In addition to earning more than 120 nominations across various ceremonies, the film is a major standout at the Golden Globes. It is competing in categories such as Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for Joel Edgerton's performance and Best Original Song for the track “Train Dreams,” which is a collaboration between Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner.

Synopsis

Robert Grainier is a day laborer making a living during the railroad expansion and within the logging industry of the American West. Set against the backdrop of a country undergoing rapid industrial transformation, Grainier faces a devastating tragedy that leaves him in a state of profound isolation.

The film follows his journey across several decades through the forests of Idaho. As he grapples with grief, loneliness, and the inexorable passage of time, he becomes a silent witness to the end of the American frontier era.

Official Trailer

Originally published in 2002 and re-released in 2011, the book is considered one of Denis Johnson’s masterpieces. It was highly acclaimed by critics and named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

The author uses a minimalist and poetic prose to condense nearly 80 years of history into just over 100 pages. The story effectively captures the disappearance of the "Old West" and the subsequent birth of modern America.

The narrative follows Robert Grainier, an ordinary and taciturn man living in the American West between the late 1800s and the mid-1900s.

Grainier’s journey begins when he arrives in Idaho as a child. He is an orphan aboard a train, and that solitary image echoes throughout his entire life. Raised in a world defined by raw physical effort, he spends his youth working as a logger and helping to build the railroads that would become the veins of a transforming nation.

However, his life is permanently altered by an overwhelming tragedy. A catastrophic forest fire reduces his home to ashes and takes the lives of his wife, Gladys, and his daughter, Kate. What remains for Grainier is an existence marked by deep solitude in the mountains. He exists somewhere between an ordinary man and a near-mythical figure.

Over the decades, he witnesses the transition from the Old West to technological modernity while living alongside grief, the wilderness, and local legends like the enigmatic "wolf-girl." His own story eventually fuses into the landscape that surrounds him.

Differences Between the Book and the Movie

While the film is a faithful adaptation, there are some notable nuances:

- Visual Fidelity: The film relies on Adolpho Veloso’s cinematography to translate Johnson’s writing into vast and melancholic imagery.

- Narrative Focus: While the book jumps through time via short vignettes, the film focuses more on the emotional continuity of Grainier’s mourning.

- Soundtrack: The sound of the trains acts as a ghost that dictates the film's rhythm, while the score by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner gives a musical voice to this feeling.

The film uses Robert Grainier’s life to showcase the radical transformation of the United States between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Set in the isolated American Northwest, specifically the Idaho and Spokane regions, the narrative depicts railroad expansion not as an epic but as a catalyst for environmental destruction and grueling labor. This progress turned rugged men into obsolete parts of an industrial machine.

This era of progress is also marked by deep social tensions, including the violence and exclusion directed at Chinese immigrants. Although they were essential to the country's infrastructure, they remained marginalized by the society of the time.

The narrative explores the brutal daily lives of itinerant loggers, whose survival was threatened by workplace accidents and the fury of nature. The pinnacle of this danger is represented by The Big Burn of 1910, the largest forest fire in American history, which devastated Idaho and Montana. Driven by drought and fierce winds, the disaster serves as a metaphor for the fragility of life in an accelerating world.

The historical context highlights a significant generational culture shock. Grainier witnesses the transition from the era of wagons and hand tools to the Moon landing. This journey illustrates the alienation of a generation that saw the "Old West" vanish under the speed of technological modernity.

Train Dreams is more than just a movie; it is a long and pained sigh about what it means to be alive and, eventually, to be forgotten. Netflix made an excellent choice in producing this adaptation, which treats grief and solitude with incredible delicacy.

Joel Edgerton’s performance is so sincere that it is impossible not to empathize with Robert’s suffering. His portrayal prompts us to reflect on how loss shapes our identity. Often, profound grief is not expressed through screams, but through a silent void carried on one's shoulders while life demands that we keep moving. Adolpho Veloso’s cinematography captures the protagonist’s loneliness amidst a landscape that is beautiful yet distant, perfectly reflecting his internal melancholy.

The memories of Gladys and Kate emerge like embers that still provide warmth. It is a portrait of how those we love remain within us, transforming the void of loss into a ghostly but necessary presence.

Seeing Robert’s world transformed by the arrival of trains while he remains static in his sadness is a powerful metaphor for the end of an era and the persistence of the human spirit. It is a film about continuing to walk in silence when the world no longer makes sense, and it leaves a lasting impression on anyone who embraces its contemplative rhythm.

The response to the film has been extraordinary. It is already established as a cinematic milestone of 2025, which is reflected in its many awards and nominations.

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% critic approval (223 reviews) and 90% audience approval (over 50,000 ratings).

IMDb: 7.5/10 from 45,000 reviews.

Letterboxd: 4.1/5 stars from 267,000 reviews.

Watching Train Dreams is an invitation for those seeking an experience that goes beyond mere entertainment. It is the ideal choice for viewers who value contemplative cinema and stories that give a voice to silence.

The film is well worth your time because of the way it transforms grief into visual poetry. It offers a unique form of comfort to anyone who has felt the weight of longing or loneliness.

This is a rare opportunity to witness a sensitive and powerful performance by Joel Edgerton, framed by cinematography that is pure art. It is a 10/10 film and is indispensable for those wishing to reflect on human persistence and the beauty found in memories that time cannot erase.

Until next time!