Train Dreams surprised me. I am often reluctant to watch period pieces made within the last 10 years. I dislike the self-serious and melodramatic tendencies that Hollywood-produced interpretations of folkloric tales automatically adopt. And well, Hollywood are the only ones who can afford to make them. I can gladly report, however, that this is not one of those movies.

Clint Bentley’s follow up to Sing Sing (2023) depicts a soul falling behind in a world of rapid technological advancement, a story as sensitive as it is painfully current.

When it comes to my own screenplays, I’m interested in making sense of the world and culture that I exist in today, not that which my great-great-great-grandpa lived through. And yet, this film left me feeling like a fool for my philosophical attachment to the current day in art. The parallel between the industrial revolution and the world we live in today speaks for itself, without the screenplay ever having to make a wink at the year 2025. But 2025 being the film’s release date is what adds a layer of extra resonance with me as an audience member. Joel Edgerton’s character has this blurry sense of time and a very melancholic stillness which is so similar to my own feelings today of life online, that it is numbing in it’s vicariousness. This is a skillful yet simple example of re-contextualizing a story to suit the modern world.

This is one to sit with. Don’t let it run into ‘autoplay’ folks.

Those are my thoughts. See Train Dreams for yourself, and form your own opinion.

Written by Maximilian Walters