Train Dreams appeared on a mini top-10 list for 2025. I was enticed to see the film by its promise to show life in nature in the early 20th century. Train Dreams initially keeps its promise and captures beautiful scenes of the Pacific Northwest that provided me energy and joy.  But over time, the philosophical premise of the movie becomes more and more inconsistent with how I see the world, and my enjoyment of the film went down. I simply found the psychological premise not very believable. An orphan does not have much social contact until he is in his early 30s, and then he meets a woman. They fall madly in love and build a life together, and then she disappears from his life for the rest of his days. For another 50 years, he tries to figure it all out, and at the end, flying in an airplane, it all makes sense to him. That doesn’t make sense to me.