Will Patton

Train Dreams should be at the forefront of every Oscar conversation. This film will stay with you, becoming sort of its own dream, one filled with contemplation and reflection, not just on the story in it, but on the story of your own life. Train Dreams is not the bombastic, overwrought kind of movie that screams attention to itself. It’s a haunting meditation on life, grief, and living with authenticity, shown through the eyes of one simple man. It feels like the pulse of your own heart, slowly beating against that of the natural landscapes and pure the moments that happen in the film. Watching one man in solitude or as he experiences and interacts with other characters onscreen is likely to project a mirror to your own life.

Train Dreams is a mesmerizing, visually stunning motion picture about solitude, sadness and community – one of the best of the year. Set in the rugged forests of the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the 20th century, it’s the ruminative story of itinerant laborer Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) who lives a simple, frontier life, marries, becomes a father, suffers great tragedy and dies – without ever speaking into a telephone or owning a gun.