“Train Dreams,” Clint Bentley’s glorious rendering of Denis Johnson’s elliptical novella borders on visual poetry as it profoundly observes one man’s existence. It’s a transcendent experience that echoes the best elements of Terrence Malick’s films, particularly in how a wandering camera caresses and gazes at the awesomeness, and danger, of nature. But “Train Dreams” never gets manacled by arc creative pretensions, resisting the urge to surrender to opaqueness (which doesn’t always happen in Malick’s films). It also never strays from its intentions or purpose, nor the truth of its main character.

Narrated with a comforting intonation by actor Will Patton that you want to wrap your arms around, “Dreams’ journeys through the life of 20th-century Pacific Northwest logger and day laborer Robe

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