There’s something profoundly fitting about the opening image of Clint Bentley’s TRAIN DREAMS: Robert Grainier, played with weathered grace by Joel Edgerton, stares pensively through a train window, watching America roll past in all its raw, unfinished beauty. He’s a logger by trade, one of countless men who helped stitch this country together with railroad ties and steel, and that window becomes a kind of metaphor for the film itself—a frame through which we glimpse a life lived in motion, always between places, always between moments of connection and stretches of profound solitude.
Robert’s work takes him away from his wife, portrayed by Felicity Jones, and their infant daughter for long, aching periods. It’s the kind of sacrifice men of that era made without question, trading proximity for purpose, presence for provision. But the calculus of such choices shifts irrevocably when a devastating forest fire tears through the community the Grainiers call home. What was once a simple life, anchored by the promise of return, becomes something else entirely—something marked by absence and the terrible weight of what can be lost in an instant.
TRAIN DREAMS belongs to that increasingly rare category of Hollywood filmmaking: the quiet, cerebral meditation that refuses to announce its emotional devastation with swelling scores or theatrical confrontations. This is a film that trusts stillness, that understands how grief and resilience don’t always manifest in grand gestures but in the small, persistent acts of continuing forward. The impact doesn’t hit you in the theater—it follows you home, settles into your thoughts days later, surfaces unexpectedly when you’re doing something completely unrelated. That’s the sign of a film that’s burrowed beneath your defenses.
What makes the story resonate so deeply is the constellation of supporting performances that orbit Edgerton’s central turn. William H. Macy appears as an old-timer on Robert’s crew, bringing decades of lived experience into every wrinkled expression. Kerry Condon shows up as a forestry services worker, and even in her brief screen time, she carries a kind of practical empathy that feels quintessentially American—the recognition that survival often depends on the kindness of near-strangers. Clifton Collins Jr. plays one of Robert’s only friends, and their scenes together have the easy rhythm of men who’ve learned to communicate more in what they don’t say than in the words they actually speak. And Jones, though her role is limited by the constraints of the story itself, provides the gravitational center around which Robert’s entire existence revolves.
These actors don’t dominate the screen—they can’t, given their limited appearances—but each brings an unmistakable weight that allows us to understand Robert as more than a solitary figure enduring hardship. They help us see him as a man embedded in a network of relationships, however fragile or temporary, who lived not in isolation but in connection with others who were similarly trying to carve out meaning from the unforgiving landscape of early twentieth-century America.
Condon’s performance, in particular, deserves special attention. There’s a specificity to how she inhabits her character, a woman working in what was undoubtedly a male-dominated field, who has learned to move through the world with both competence and caution. She doesn’t need lengthy monologues to establish her character’s depth—it’s there in her posture, in the way she assesses situations before speaking, in the particular quality of her attention when she listens to Robert. Condon has built a career on these kinds of precisely calibrated performances, where restraint becomes its own form of eloquence. In TRAIN DREAMS, she contributes to the film’s larger meditation on how we witness each other’s lives, how we show up for one another in moments of crisis, and how sometimes the most meaningful connections are the ones we don’t expect or fully understand until much later.
Kerry Condon`s brief but powerful performance in TRAIN DREAMS is pitch perfect.
She inhabits her character with quiet competence, moving through a male-dominated world with both caution and grace.
Watch now on @netflix!
🎬 HAMNET stars to receive Vanguard Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards!
A stunning meditation on love`s fragility and art`s power to transform suffering into transcendence. This is Irish talent at its absolute finest on the world stage.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
Netflix just quietly dropped a crime thriller you`ve been sleeping on, and Brendan Gleeson`s performance alone makes it mandatory viewing.
MR MERCEDES, Stephen King`s dark detective series that somehow flew under the radar, is finally streaming – and it`s everything fans of slow-burn psychological thrillers have been craving.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
Andrew Scott is about to steal another movie and we`re absolutely here for it! 🔍
The trailer for WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY has dropped, and our beloved Irish actor is joining Daniel Craig`s Benoit Blanc for what looks like the most deliciously twisted instalment yet.
Scott plays bestselling author Lee Ross, one of several suspects in a seemingly impossible murder that rocks a small town`s religious community.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
From GLADIATOR II`s arena to the quiet forests of Maine collecting folk songs on wax cylinders—Paul Mescal`s latest role in THE HISTORY OF SOUND might be his most vulnerable yet.
Now on @amazonprime, the film follows Lionel, a shy musician from a Kentucky farm in the 1910s, who meets David White (Josh O`Connor) at the New England Conservatory.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
For more than two decades, Domhnall Gleeson has carved out one of the most diverse and compelling careers in contemporary cinema.
Watch Domhnall break down his career in his latest @esquire interview!
Link in bio ❤️
Adapted from Louise Kennedy`s bestselling novel, TRESPASSES stars Gillian Anderson as executive producer and cast member.
Kennedy praises the "ear-perfect, sexy script" and "gorgeously melancholic aesthetic vision" that brings her Women`s Prize-shortlisted novel to life.
Premieres Sunday 9pm on Channel 4, more at irishfilmtv.com.
THE IRIS AFFAIR is a high-stakes chase thriller that turns Italy into a deadly playground where genius meets danger.
Created by LUTHER mastermind Neil Cross, this Sky Original delivers cinematic tension where trust is fatal and every move could be your last. Two minds. One secret. No escape.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
** NEW TRAILER ALERT **
Roadside Attractions has unveiled the first trailer for H IS FOR HAWK, and it`s breathtaking. Brendan Gleeson appears as the father whose absence shapes everything, bringing his signature depth to a role that haunts the entire film.
Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.
🎬 HAMNET has officially overtaken Paul Thomas Anderson`s ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER as the Oscar frontrunner!
Chloé Zhao`s Shakespeare-inspired drama now leads with a 96.8% chance of nomination, fueled by its Telluride buzz and Toronto People`s Choice win.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
The DERRY GIRLS creator is back with HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST — and it`s the show Lisa McGee says she`s always wanted to make. 🍀
Three childhood friends. One mysterious death. A wake that goes sideways. Eight episodes of chaos, secrets, and arguments about eyelash extensions.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
Pierce Brosnan trades his 007 tuxedo for raw, devastating drama in CURTAIN CALL—arriving on digital November 10.
Starring opposite Jessica Lange, Brosnan continues his brilliant pivot from action hero to serious character actor, exploring the heartbreaking reality of dementia in the theatre world.
Watch trailer on irishfilmtv.com.
Colin Farrell`s latest is dividing audiences, but everyone agrees on one thing: his performance is absolutely magnetic ✨
The Oscar-nominated Irish actor stars as Lord Doyle, a spiraling gambler in neon-soaked Macao searching for redemption.
Don`t miss Farrell at his destructive best, now on @netflix!
Daniel Day-Lewis is BACK and we`re not ready for how devastating ANEMONE is 😭
After 7 years away from the screen, Day-Lewis returns in this quiet Irish masterpiece directed by his son Ronan. It`s not a flashy comeback—it`s something far more powerful. A meditation on isolation, guilt, and the human connections we can`t outrun, no matter how far we go.
ANEMONE is now on Prime!
Barry Keoghan goes blonde and badass for CRIME 101! 🎬
The Irish star trades blows with Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo in this high-stakes crime thriller, playing Orman, a thief whose methods are as disturbing as they are effective. With Detective Lou Lubesnick (Ruffalo) closing in and rival criminal Davis (Hemsworth) in his way, this heist is about to get messy.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
