I finally watched the film “Train Dreams” on Netflix, a title that had been on my mind for a while.
Set in early 20th-century America, it is the life story of a man born as an orphan who works as a seasonal laborer, laying tracks and logging forests.
The visuals, presented in a 3:2 aspect ratio, are stunning and immediately drew me in. The majestic trees and forests of Idaho, and the American laborers who fell them.
The protagonist, Robert, is a taciturn man who, despite being among those rugged workers, doesn’t exude a sense of “macho” bravado. He simply focuses on his seasonal work—laying railroads and clearing forests. He lives a modest life in a house he built himself with Gladys, the woman he fell in love with.
Yet, amidst that life, utterly irrational events repeatedly befall him and those around him. Racism, accidents, fires.
One never knows why these things happen. Robert is tossed about by life without ever finding the answers.
Perhaps it’s because they are cutting down 500-year-old giants, or perhaps because they have overlooked horrific racism…
That very “unknowability” feels like the essence of living itself.
Eventually, things become suspended in mid-air. I was deeply moved by the beauty of the story’s progression, finding something meaningful within that state of suspension.
Since the main setting is the forest, the depiction of the entanglement between humans and nature was superb.
The vast forest is described as something where “one cannot tell where it begins or where it ends,” which feels like the true essence of nature.
Because we find it impossible to accept the incomprehensible, we instinctively try to find beginnings and ends. And then, we lose our way.I watched the film wondering what it would feel like to truly let go of that habit.
The cinematography by Adolpho Veloso was so brilliant that I found myself following him on Instagram immediately.
As for the lead, Joel Edgerton—I kept thinking his face looked familiar, and then I realized he’s Uncle Owen from the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy! And Felicity Jones, who plays his wife, is Jyn Erso from “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story“!
I got excited all by myself, thinking, “This is basically a Star Wars spin-off!” Please do give it a watch.
Speaking of which, I heard that the Star Trek series are disappearing from Netflix. How irrational…
I was still in the middle of “Deep Space Nine”…