Train Dreams: A Quiet Elegy on Time, Loss, and the Meaning of a Simple Life

In this speculative yet quiet narrative, Robert Grainier is an introverted man who makes his living as a logger for the Spokane International Railway. The story begins with Robert dropping out of school and drifting through life without direction or purpose until he meets Gladys Olding at a church. He marries her, and together they have a child named Kate.

Later, in order to make ends meet, Robert takes up tree-felling work and is often away from his family during his duties. There he witnesses several tragedies: a Chinese worker thrown off a bridge, another struck by a falling tree, and, most hauntingly, the death of his close friend Arn Peebles, killed by a branch that falls on his head.

These persistent tragedies trigger recurring nightmares in Robert — including a dream in which he is struck by a train. He then turns to seasonal logging and tries to find work closer to home but fails. During this time, he and Gladys decide to start farming.

After his final duty, Robert returns home only to see a wildfire raging in the mountains. The train station is filled with people trying to evacuate. Amid the chaos, he reaches his cabin — but his wife and daughter are nowhere to be found, and the cabin has burned to ashes, leaving only empty land behind.

Distressed, Robert waits, hoping his family will return. After several lonely days on the charred land, he encounters his old friend Ignatius Jack, who encourages him to move forward. Eventually, Robert regains his footing, rebuilds the cabin, and becomes a stagecoach driver, all while still hoping for his wife and daughter’s return.

The film ends with Robert taking his first flight. A narration reveals that he later dies peacefully in his sleep, leaving no heirs behind. Yet on that spring day in the airplane, “as he misplaced all sense of up and down, he felt, at last, connected to it all.”

This is a deeply touching film. Its simple narrative invites audiences to reflect on the value of time, the importance of family, and existential themes such as love, loss, compassion, solitude, and the tension between nature and industrial growth.

Train Dreams is directed by Clint Bentley and stars Joel Edgerton as Robert, Felicity Jones as Gladys, along with William H. Macy, Kerry Condon, and others.

The film received two Oscar nominations — Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. However, many movie lovers criticized the Academy’s treatment of the film: if a movie is nominated for Best Picture, why were none of the actors nominated? Such decisions often spark backlash against the Oscars, which the wider audience still views as an honorary platform recognizing cinematic excellence.