Train Dreams
This is the first time in a while that a film has made me tear up. The sheer emotional depth, the highs and the lows of a completely ordinary man and his life. This film explores companionship, loneliness, the changing of the world, feeling lost etc. And it is so poetic with it. All of the characters feel real as if they could have easily lived. We see Robert as he find a girl, gets married, builds a home and starts a family by having a daughter. He finds friendship with Arn. The highs in life. Then it all comes crashing down as a forest fire takes them away from him. Arn passes away after a logging accident. Showing the truth of how little control we have over our own lives. Robert becomes lost and lonely. He does find new companions like Red Dog and Claire but there is forever a whole in him where is family should be. For the rest of the film he waits clinging onto a distant hope that they are still out there. And even when you think Kate has returned it is nothing more than Robert hoping. The theme of the world changing is also interesting as he is a logger, cutting trees with hand saws, catching rides on steam trains and buying a horse and cart. By the end people have cars, are going to space and are using chainsaws to cut trees. This shows the feeling of being lost as the world moves on without Robert. But by far the most beautiful part is the end as he watches the world from a plane and his life flashes past him, memories he cherishes and memories he wishes to forget all come to him at once. This is the scene that got me emotional. And for the first time Robert feels at peace has has reconciled, how beautiful is that!
From a more technical standpoint, the acting is brilliant especially from Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones, the story and writing is perfect. I love the shots up into the woodland canopies and the flashbacks are so intense.
**Sound & score - 8/10
Acting performances - 10/10
Writing - 10/10
Plot - 10/10
Cinematography - 8/10
Personal enjoyement - 10/10**