Just watched...

"Train Dreams" and "The History of Sound." Over the holidays, I had some down time to catch up on films...I am also a Screen Actors Guild member and can vote in the Actor Awards (previously the SAG Awards) and got to see a lot of For Your Consideration films. I actually saw these two films a week or so apart but they beg to be watched as a double feature... does anyone here in the Bay Area recall the glory days of the UC Berkeley theatre on University Avenue and their amazingly creative double-feature scheduling? Watching these two together would be a marvelous study in time and space and cinematography.

I saw the lovely "Train Dreams" first, based on a 2011 novella by Denis Johnson, directed by Clint Bentley, and starring Joel Edgerton.

In the early 1900s, we meet our main character Robert Grainier, played with beautiful, skillful restraint by Edgerton, who arrives in Idaho without direction or purpose. He soon falls in love and marries a young woman and they have a baby girl. But Robert must provide and he goes to work on the Spokane International Railway, but the work is perilous and takes him away from his new family for long periods.

This compact tale is spare in its words and explanations, a characteristic I appreciate in film. It feels like a novella, in the best way. The actions tell the story here against a lyrical, majestic backdrop of forests and trees: the cinematography is something to weep over, it is so beautiful at times. Indeed, it reminded me of a Terrence Malick film with its achingly gorgeous and still meditations on nature and place. The production design is exquisite. And of course the acting is perfect, with everyone exhibiting the kind of stoicism that surely must have been required of anyone making their own way on the frontier, building their own cabin, surviving harsh winters, a scarcity of food, and a lack of money or work. At its heart, it is a tale about a man who does not have the vocabulary to express the tragedies that befall him...no way to understand the pain. But rather than be a downward spiral, the film leaves us with the sense that, as human beings, we can weather a lot and still stay on our feet, despite us wanting to lay down, to give up. Life is something to go through rather than around, even when it seems impossible to do so.

Next is the "The History of Sound" directed by Oliver Hermanus and written by Ben Shattuck, who adapted his short stories "The History of Sound" and "Origin Stories".

As mentioned, these two films, while different in subject matter, feel like a sip of water from the same well. They cover a similar time frame, and have a similar cinematography, capturing nature in a wide, wondrous way. In 1917, Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal whom I adored in "All Of Us Strangers" seen here) meets David White (Josh O'Connor who was heartbreaking in "God's Own Country" here) while they are both attending the New England Conservatory of Music. They bond over their shared love of traditional and folk music, and are soon acting on their attraction to each other. They begin an affair they must, of course given the time period, keep secret. Unfortunately, David is drafted into the army to fight in World War I but upon his return, reconnects with Lionel. David invites him on a trip around the east coast to collect folk music from rural areas and the two set off on foot for an adventure. Their love deepens but, again in this time period, there is no scenario where they can be a couple and move into the world with any level of acceptance and hope of a successful life. Much like Robert in "Train Dreams" one of them is left to make sense of their time together, without being able to properly express it. Both of these films are gentle, tender stories that explore areas of the heart that are usually left unspoken, filled with things--love and loss--that endure even when, or because they hurt.

"Train Dreams" is nominated for Best Picture at the 2026 Oscars, while "The History of Sound" was nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Recommend? Absolutely, both films are gifts for the eyes and the heart, and the places they can take you to deserve to be recognized, to be held and kept company.

Just watched...

...the debut film from filmmaker Francis Lee, "God's Own Country."

This amazing tone poem of a film released last year (2017) stars Josh O'Connor as Johnny Saxby, a young man who lives on a farm in Yorkshire with his disabled father and grandmother. Life is hard for him as he is the only able bodied person on the property to do any of the immense, backbreaking, endless work. He is young and there is no outlet for himself, no time for friends, no time for a boyfriend, no time for a real social life. Instead, he has quick anonymous sex at a cattle auction, and goes to the local pub at night to get blind drunk. After he wakes up in his own vomit in the morning, the grind begins again. He hates his life and is filled with obvious rage and repressed emotions that he drowns in alcohol...

...Until his father hires a worker to help with the springtime lambing season. Handsome and sexy Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe played by Alec Secăreanu shows up for the job and Johnny is his usual sullen and unfriendly self. But when they must set out with sleeping bags and provisions to go to the far, far end of the property where they camp and repair dry-stacked stone fences, and care for lambs, their awkward relationship takes a turn and they become lovers.

Interestingly, the fact that Johnny is gay never makes it to the list of problems. Seems his family knows, his old school mates know, and Johnny himself never displays any kind of angst or guilt. Likewise, Gheorghe seems highly acclimated to his true self as well. The tensions come from the situation both of them find themselves in: one of them stuck on a farm in God's own country (aka the middle of nowhere) unable to leave, and the other a foreigner who must travel and scrounge for work. Johnny is not good at identifying and expressing his feelings which is also a hurdle. And Gheorghe seems the kind of person who not only can identify and express his inner self, but will not wait while someone else dithers about such matters.

The film was written and directed by Francis Lee who says the film is semi-autobiographical: he grew up on a farm just a stone's throw from where the film was made. Shot in the Silsden area of Keighley in West Yorkshire, the backdrop is sweeping, harsh, and empty. There is a beauty to the landscape but Lee chose to emphasize the harshness and brutality of the bare, windswept terrain. Between the bitter cold and wind and the amount of exhausting work coupled with Johnny's confinement amongst it all, the first half of the film weighs heavily. I found myself unable to breathe at certain points. But despite this, it is clear to see that shots were beautifully composed, almost like a Malick film. And also like a Malick film, Lee chose to let many scenes unfold wordlessly since Johnny is a man of few words. The silence between him and Ghoerghe has a physical presence. This is a wonderful way of letting film be the visual story teller that it is. To be able to show the story instead of tell it is a hallmark of cinema, one that more filmmakers should aspire to.

Josh O'Connor is simply spectacular as Johnny...not a misstep in his heartbreakingly real performance. And as Gheorghe, Alec Secăreanu is just as assured and strong in what he brings. Their struggle and romance is immediate and vital and we end up rooting for them, to overcome life's obstacles, and without telling you spoilers, I will say there is a satisfying ending.

Recommend? YES. Gorgeous on so many levels.

https://www.godsowncountry.film/