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There were once passageways to the old world, a voiceover intones at the beginning ofTrain Dreams.
Youd turn a corner and find yourself faced with a great mystery.
Grainier is not an educated man or one prone to romanticism and reflection.
The film looks and sounds spectacular.
Its not long, but it has an epic spirit.
And for all its artful, elliptical lyricism, it has a scale that demands a huge screen.
Old-growth forests stretch to the very top edges of the frame.
The landscape is filled with dusty mountains, misty horizons, and, sometimes, desolate and dead hills.
Even the craggy faces of the men in close-up look like maps of uncharted terrain.
All too often, actors playing rugged, physical laborers can come off like theyre doing dress-up.
That contrasts with the sun-dappled softness of Grainiers home life, or at least his visions of it.
The cruelty around him also powers these homesick reveries.
Do you think that the bad things we do follow us in life?
Every thread we pull, we know not how it affects the design of things.
When asked what hes referring to, he simply says, All of it.
Every bit of it.
hey, for the love of God, dont watch this magnificent movie on your phone.
