In Train Dreams , Clint Bentley’s expressive adaptation of Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella (co-written by his Sing Sing director and co-scribe Greg Kwedar), Felicity Jones and Kerry Condon don’t share the screen even for a second. However, playing Gladys and Claire, respectively, the actresses bring to life two major characters in the life of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) with tremendous warmth—a quality that runs through the dewy Pacific Northwest environs of Bentley’s film.

When Gladys meets the quiet Robert, an early-20th-century railroad laborer, their connection is instant and undeniable: they soon marry and have a daughter at their modest farm. Claire only enters the picture after Gladys tragically exits it, sharing Robert’s grief like a long-lost friend.

“We didn’t have any

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