Train Dreams

10/10 ☆☆☆☆ // Cried 😢 // Beautiful Movie "But on that spring day, as he misplaced all sense of up and down, he felt, at last, connected to it all." ((Spoilers)) This movie is so artist, beautiful, and comforting. I love how it was shot like a short film, like it isn't like your typical Netflix / "fast fashion" type movie (yk?) I love the square framing, and blue look. It reminded me of An Eternity's Gate (I couldn't help but think about that one Willem Dafoe meme) Before watching, I thought it would be a slow watch. But after the first few minutes, I was hooked into watching the life of Robert Grainier and Gladys Grainier. They were so cute 🥺 I loved every moment with them. I would describe the plot as punctuated. The life of Robert is mainly "smooth" with majority of it being calm moments from his life, but there would be abrupt moments of death, that add to his character development. What I really like is this movies perspective on a historical time period. Which in general is why I love historical fiction. It lets you peer into the life of those who loved long ago, and allows you to build a connection with them. And makes you think "they really weren't all that different". Which is a problem with me bc I always imagine people from the 1900s to have lived in a dull black and white world -- but movies like this that are full of colors and life really break that mindset. Dude, I loved Arn so much, his song and his stories and just his overall vibe. I really didn't want to see him die, but since we were already two deaths in and his old age, I knew it was coming. The irony of it being from a tree falling on him... yeah cut the cameras ☹️ And then when Robert met that other guy who was a friend of Arn, and him saying he hadn't seen him in a year or so but we know it's been longer 🥺 and Robert not telling him fuck I'm balling. Also, I really like the narrator. And the fact that he had a sort of omniscience. Specifically on that part where he said that "If Robert had been born a generation later, they would've been able to identify the heart problems" OMG... But the most gut wrenching part was when Gladys and Kate were no where to be found after the wildfire passed through. Fuck, Robert's desperation was making me hold out hope too.. and with how cute the movie had been before, I thought "Surely they would still be alive" But it didn't take long to realize they weren't coming back. Off topic, but I really liked how, since this movie is really blue, they used the vibrant orange of the wildfire to create a beautiful complementary color shot (I'm sorry I'm so easy to please) DUDE but I was lowkey tripping out bc Robert was lowkey becoming schizophrenic (/j): him hearing their voices and fuck when he thought Katie had returned home😭😭 and then when he explained how he wouldn't turn around when he heard their voices bc he didn't want to scare them off 😭😭 I love how they put so much emphasis on having Robert stay home so that he wouldn't miss out on Katie growing up and how Gladys said she would start working too so he could stay home. And then they hit us with Gladys and Kate dying bc he wasnt there when they needed him 😭 The amount of guilt he must've felt -- and the fact the he himself said it too I really liked how they showed the changes of time, but through his career. Like how they now used a bridge instead of the railroad track they made 10 years before and how they used chainsaws instead of the saws? That one worker calling Robert an old man really hit. Idc, sequences where they show a character getting flash backs make he tear up so bad... And Roberts relefection while on the plane was no exception, I was ugly crying. And the narrator final words "he finally felt connected to it all" and "he left the world as quietly as he had entered it" (or something like that) "When Robert Grainier died in his sleep sometime in November of 1968, his life ended as quietly as it had begun. He'd never purchased a firearm or spoken into a telephone. He had no idea who his parents might have been, and he left no heirs behind him. But on that spring day, as he misplaced all sense of up and down, he felt, at last, connected to it all."