Train Dreams

“A movie I saw recently. 4.5/5 on my Letterboxd. Beautiful and sad.”

“I watched this on a plane when it first came out. I still think about this movie. Hauntingly beautiful. Heads up, I sobbed for about half the film!”

“the beauty of being alive even through hardship, change, and heartbreak! it is all beautiful!!”

“Beautiful film with vistas of the Pacific Northwest”

“Perfect film, 90% natural lighting. The human experience!! (The book is fine but the movie is excellent)”

“Made my elderly parents watch this with me the second time.”

“This got some deserved attention because of the 2025 movie, which I couldn't quite bring myself to watch because the Denis Johnson novella it's based on has been one of my all-time favorite pieces of writing for over 20 years—a spare, beautiful, haunting work. (Apparently either it's not for everyone or a bunch of people read it who were expecting something other than literary fiction, because the 3.87 it has on GoodReads is an absolute travesty.)”

“Hauntingly beautiful story, stunning cinematography, lighting and art direction, heartbreaking and unforgettable.”

“Based on Denis Johnson's novella of the same name, this film offers a staggeringly beautiful, yet complicated, portrait of the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest, as seen through the eyes of logger Robert Grainer.”

“It is the most gentle, wrenching, story I’ve read. Actually, I listened to the audiobook. Recommending Denis Johnson is not very original but it was the first thing that came to mind. “Train Dreams” is the best thing Denis Johnson has produced, and he’s produced a lot of great stuff. He died at the Sea Ranch and you can rent his house.”

“Because I will never see trees and trains the same again.”

“I read this before I watched the movie. I enjoyed both but this book was haunting, in the best way. It had similar vibes to Gilead for me, which is high praise.”