There is nothing particularly grand about Robert Grainier’s existence in the world. The main character of “Train Dreams” is not a great thinker, artist or athlete. He doesn’t know who his parents are, or even exactly how old he is. He’s not particularly chatty, or passionate.

Robert Grainier is a man, portrayed by a bearded, contemplative Joel Edgerton , who seems to live life simply because it’s there. What other choice does he have?

Yet Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella, set at the beginning of the 20th century, gives this small life in the Idaho Panhandle a grand, soulful canvas. Robert might just be a logger and day laborer, cutting down trees for paycheck wherever the next job calls, but with a poetically minded narrator (Will Patton) and a cinematographe

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