Train Dreams hit me hard

 Every few years there’s a film I’m scared to watch because the air around it just feels to heavy. These films come with a weight that will pull you emotionally to your knees and force you to take stock. These films last time I know for sure a film did that for me was The Florida Project (but also maybe Pig and my first viewing of Everything Everywhere, All at Once). I have referred to that film far too many times as an empathy test or empathy heroin. Only a sociopath or psychopath could watch that film and be untouched by it. Train Dreams has brought me back to that heavy place.

I’ve tried to stay away from marketing, discussions, and materials about this film after I heard a brief mention on a podcast about its tone. That was right after it premiered at Sundance in January 2025. Since its release on Netflix I knew to wait until I could watch it uninterrupted. It’s been over a month and tonight was finally the night. 

I don’t want to review the film or recount the plot, but the tone and journey of its main character is both small but also universally known. It’s a wonder. at basically 90 minutes there is a tense feel that something devastating will happen and when it does you can’t believe how long the narrative had you wait and live in the main characters life. You learn so much about him and the world he finds himself in. I could go in depth and share more details but I’d rather anyone who finds this turns the flick on with basically zero knowledge of the story, as I did.

I will say, I the credits rolled on Train Dreams at 10:30 tonight and I turned out the lights and tried to go to sleep. I couldn’t there was just too many things rolling in my head and emotions flowing through my sinuses, stomach, and gut. The one thing I first felt was how much I have to be grateful for and the closest things in my life I’ve been actively trying not to take for granted. In Train Dreams, the main character Robert is pretty much a Forrest Gump style character whose situation he finds himself hopping from seemingly required step to required step. Although Robert, unlike Forrest, has basically no support system or fallback. He does what needs to be done and is at the whim of the universe. There I go saying too much.

Still, 10 minutes after the film ended, I felt the need to say thank you to the important people in my life and the people who made me who I am. Sacrificed, shielded me, built me up, and worked hard to ensure my happiness and comfort. The world is not that way too many and it can be hard to understand. 

This is starting to turn into late night ramblings. But I wanted to write this out or my brain would tick, tick, tick until I exhausted myself to midnight or possibly later. The last thing I’ll say is I am actively trying to do for my daughters what my parents did for me. Something you clearly gather from Robert’s time with his daughter in Train Dreams. Hold off the dark truths of the outside world until they need to know it and be a fount of potential and optimism. And hopefully share that energy with the world at large as well.

Okay, I am going to bed. See Train Dreams but be warned, it will take you places of true gratitude and sympathy.