(**1/2)
“All aboard!” Come for the artistry and acting. Stay for the sorrowful drama. Leave astounded and saddened.
Clint Bentley, the director of the indie drama Jockey is on a roll. He co-wrote and produced the prison film Sing Sing, which was up for a 2025 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar®. Conversely, the director of Sing Sing, Greg Kwedar, is a co-writer on this drama. Bentley and Kwedar know how to tell a story that’s evocative, involving and equipped with enough life lessons for a preacher’s sermon. With this turn of the 20th century tale, they haven’t lost their artistic touch. But they’re spinning an ode about the working man that, though engaging, is so dour it begs the question, “Who is the audience for this movie?”
Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton, Loving) is a laborer. His hands help him make a modest income. He works on crews that are building the railroads. Cutting down huge trees is part of his duties. Often living among other men who do the same. Drifting from place to place. Job to job. Remembering some faces here and there. Starting friendships now and then, including one with a fast-talking philosopher type, Arn Peeples (William H. Macy). Always aware of the dangers of his itinerant profession. A hard life where people come and go, and going sometimes means death by a work-related accident.
Grainer hasn’t put down real roots. He’s more inclined when he meets the love of his life, Gladys (Felicity Jones, The Brutalist). To support her and the family he wants, he continues with his livelihood. He goes where the work is. She stays behind. There’s no promises in life. Nothing guarantees that he’ll ever return home or that things will be the same if he does. Life is fragile like that. Fate is mean like that. Fate is really mean.
Exterior shots in Eastern Washington state, including Metaline Falls, Colville and downtown Spokane, showcase the sheer majesty of the geography. Opening scenes, as captured by cinematographer Aolpho Veloso’s (Jockey) prying lens, depict huge redwoods being sawed and crashing to earth—underscoring the danger of Granier’s profession. Verdant colors pull you into nature. The rustic homes (production designer Alexandra Schaller, After Yang) seem clean, yet dirty. Lumberjack shirts and pants (Malgosia Turzanska, The Green Night) fit the crew and times. Music plays (composer Bryce Dessner, The Revenant) and deepen soul killing emotions. Each chapter is magically linked to the others by smart editing (Parker Laramie, Allen v. Farrow).
There’s no question that Bentley is in complete control of his filmmaking, in the most masterful way. Like a painter picks brushes and colors to make his statement. Or a landscape photographer/environmentalist, like Ansel Adams, frames each shot of mother nature meticulously. A rough backwoods feel, a sadness that won’t wane and an obsession for love are increasingly prevalent in every frame. The composition is impeccable. The staging of the actors perfect too. The tone from the period is set methodically and sustained for the duration, Much like the 2011 novella, by Denis Johnson, the movie is based on.
Jones is mesmerizing as she convinces audiences that her character Gladys is the love of someone’s life. A presence that lingers. Macy, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon, Sean San Jose, Alfred Hsing and Johnny Arnoux provide the supporting characters that fill in the seams of Granier’s life.
Australian actor Joel Edgerton brings a certain grace and mourning to the lead role. He takes Granier’s longing deeper and deeper and deeper into a rabbit hole. An obsession that defies the gossip in town, the seasons that come and go, the flirtations that don’t mean anything anymore. Profound melancholic depression. Sorrowful. Granier, “Sometimes it feels like the sadness would eat me alive. Sometimes it feels like it happened to somebody else.” The pain feels tragic and authentic.
Rarely does incessant voiceover narration work. This is one of the few cases where the gravelly voice that fills in the details, as rendered by Will Patton (Minari), elevates the storytelling. It’s almost like you’re hearing this tale while sitting around a campfire or on a porch. Like someone is talking about the neighbor down the road who lost his home and family but shows up every day at the same spot where they disappeared. Hoping against hope.
Maybe there was a joyous indomitable spirit when rugged men were building the railroads back in the early 1900s. But that’s another story. This is a well-crafted requiem about a man providence double-crossed. A dirge so solemn, viewers may exit this train before it arrives at its destination.
Photo courtesy of the Sundance Film Institute and photo by Adolpho Veloso.
For more information about the Sundance Film Festival go to: https://festival.sundance.org
Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.