Train Dreams, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival, is a film of considerable beauty marred by a simple flaw. The dialogue is indecipherable.

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The film follows the life of Robert Grainer (Joel Edgerton) from the 1930s to '60s. He works as a train builder and logger in Idaho supporting his wife Gladys (Felicity Jones) and their daughter (Zoe Rose Short).

Logging is dangerous work as Robert witnesses several deaths in tree falling accidents. He also witnesses violence when coworkers attack a Chinese railroad worker on a bridge building job.

When those characters speak, however, they mumble. Rainfall or other nature sounds drown out their Midwest drawl.

This is a common problem in cinema sound now. Dialogue is recorded too low and sound effects too high. Christopher Nolan's films are notorious for it.

It doesn't matter how nice the theater sound system is, and Sundance offers top-of-the-line. If the dialogue wasn't prioritized it won't be audible in any venue, but Sundance seatmates confirmed this was not a personal issue.

The characters of the loggers become a blur and even Robert's reactions are obscured. It doesn't appear as if they were having emotional conversations, but this is the community that defines Robert's life.

Arn Peeples (William H. Macy) is an explosives expert who is always talking in his scenes. The point is that he's rambling, but it would be nice to understand some of his stories.

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Will Patton narrates the film and his voiceover is far more clear except when he's introducing the characters. Most don't have simple names like Robert and Gladys so it's hard to make out Arn Peeples until it's spelled in the credits.

Footage captures the beauty and deadliness of the Idaho wilderness. The contrast between jobs in nature and industrial development intruding is also poignant.

There are further tragedies in Robert and Gladys's life over the decades. Those events speak for themselves.

Gladys is not in the movie much since it's mostly Robert working in the forest. She suggests visiting him but thankfully he declined because it is too dangerous.

By the end, Robert can no longer tell if he's dreaming or meeting a real person. The people who have died are obviously dreams, but others also disappear after a visit suggesting dreams of the people he's met ultimately overtake Robert.

Train Dreams had the potential to be a poignant epic about 20th-century American life. Its current incarnation unfortunately keeps the characters at a distance due to technical miscalculations.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.