Derek Cianfrance adapts Denis Johnson’s novella into an elegiac portrait of early twentieth century America. The film follows a logger and railroad worker whose life unfolds against the vast, changing landscape of the American West. Cianfrance approaches the story with lyrical patience, letting the rhythm of labor, nature, and solitude shape its flow.
The protagonist’s hardships—love, loss, fleeting joy—become echoes of a nation building itself on work and sacrifice. The cinematography captures forests, rivers, and trains with a painterly eye, inviting viewers to feel both the beauty and indifference of the land. Performances are understated but rich, grounding the mythic imagery in human vulnerability. Train Dreams resists melodrama, instead crafting a meditative film about memory, resilience, and the ghosts that linger in ordinary lives. It is earthy, intimate, and quietly devastating.
Train Dreams is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
