Train Dreams

"When you go through something like that, nothing you do is crazy. You just go through what you go through." How beautiful it is to be human. Films like these are a dying breed and one that many of audiences need. A delicate, simpler story that hits you close. Not simple, but simpler. A somber, slow, celebration of a human life in a distant time yet could still touch hearts generations later. A celebration of our universal, ancient, and timeless kindness that connects us all. A celebration of trauma and how we see ourselves from the thorns stuck in our skin which haunts us and whether if it's our fault or none's at all. A celebration of love, to create something simple yet special, our own little world out there nestled in the humble mountains of old. A celebration of how we feel grief and the journey we go through it as the love of the ones we lost persevere. And the passage of time and how it affects our being whether we change as the world around us change and if we could ever keep up of how fast it is. Everything about this film is beautiful — the cinematography, set design, and costume immerses you in the older times of America. Shots are up close and personal which felt like I was with Robert the entire time going through his life with him. The acting felt so real it felt like I knew all of them personally as friends or perhaps neighbors I didn't bother to say hi. What an amazing, quiet performance the actors gave here that will surely won't leave my mind for a long time. Joel Edgerton delivered something special and authentically human — a monumental feat in his career. Every emotion he delivered, I felt it within me. Felicity Jones delivered a short yet incredibly effective performance. I love how this movie treated her as an independent, strong, person considering the time it's in and not just a wife and a mother. William H. Macy's equally short role was effective as well, an older and wise gentleman that is universally relatable. And Nathaniel Arcand who delivered a kind and sympathetic role of being a reliable friend no matter what race you are. Most people in this movie are kind, particularly in Robert's generation (except for the racists, obviously) making the abrupt change of the more crude, new co-workers an effective message of how the next generations feels alien to us. A never-ending cycle. Robert's generation treated Arn the same way and now it's his turn. It's not that every new generation is more rude than the next, but their rudeness is always shown differently than the last and I think that ugly side of us is a bittersweet part of life. I cried. How simple things are yet so daunting — the privilege to feel, to be a part of this massive world within an infinite universe. How truly beautiful it is to be human.