Train Dreams review – Joel Edgerton superb in Malickian story of trees, grief and railroads

T he dreams of the title are premonitions of the future, memories of the past, yearnings for an alternative present – and sometimes just the dreams that disturb the sleep of the film’s lead character, a logger named Robert Grainier, richly and expressively played with few words by Joel Edgerton . He is part of an exploited itinerant labour force in the early 20th century who cleared woodland wildernesses, built bridges and made way for the American railroad. He lives a quasi-hobo existence but is possessed of a passionate, unspoken inner life to which this fine movie gives expression. His emotional life is the tree that falls in the forest without making a sound.

Greg Kwedar has adapted the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson ; the director is Clint Bentley, and they have created a lovely