TRAIN DREAMS – (L-R) Gladys Oakley (Felicity Jones) and Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton). Cr: Courtesy of Netflix
It was a quiet Sundance for Netflix, though the streamer did come away with the rights to launch Practice Goals, which is scheduled to premiere globally in November 2025, presumably with a view to the movie being one in all Netflix’s probabilities to scoop a big award for the 2026 Awards marketing campaign.
Robert Grainier, a day laborer engaged on America’s railroads on the flip of the twentieth century, is the middle of this romance drama. The movie follows his life as he experiences profound love, surprising defeats, and a world irrevocably reworking earlier than his eyes. It’s an adaptation of the Denis Johnson novel, which first started as a narrative published in The Paris Review in 2002 earlier than being launched as an entire e book in 2011.
The film is directed by Clint Bentley, who has additionally produced, written, and directed a number of movies and shorts. Different credit embody directing and producing the 2021 film Jockey, Transpecos, Dakota, and 9 Races. He additionally co-wrote the movie alongside Greg Kwedar, who’re each simply coming off the campaigning circuit for the Oscar-nominated film Sing Sing, starring Colman Domingo, with the pair serving as producers.
Talking in regards to the film with IndieWire, Bentley mentioned, “I’ve been a Dennis Johnson fan since faculty for a few years, and Practice Goals was really the primary e book I learn. It was such a miracle of a e book that then I used to be like, I’ve to learn all the things by this particular person.” Bentley mentioned he initially didn’t know if he can be directing and that the producers in the end requested him to tackle the position. “There have been so many issues that excited me about it cinematically… about identical to, what’s our place on the earth? And, you understand, while you die, wanting again, what’s really vital? Our relationship to nature and issues like that.”
Who’s within the solid for Practice Goals?
Photos: Getty Pictures / IMDb
- Joel Edgerton (The Present, Loving, Netflix’s The Stranger) as Robert Grainier
- Felicity Jones (The Principle of Every part, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Netflix’s The Midnight Sky) as Gladys Grainier
- William H. Macy (Shameless, Fargo) as Arn Peeples
- Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin, Higher Name Saul)
- Alfred Hsing (The E book of Boba Fett) as Fu Sheng
- Clifton Collins Jr. (Star Trek) as Boomer
- Will Patton (Yellowstone) as Narrator
Talking in regards to the movie, Joel Egerton has mentioned he learn the e book years in the past and had as soon as thought-about buying the rights to the novella, however came upon the rights have been unavailable. The venture landed on his door as if by destiny. “Years later, I get an e-mail about being concerned within the movie as an actor, and it felt like somebody knew the internal workings of my mind.” The actor then praised the work of Bentley and Kwedar, adapting the film, saying, “These guys had accomplished such an exquisite job of doing fairly a difficult transition from the novella to a screenplay, on condition that the story spans such an enormous breadth of time in a single man’s life. So I used to be simply I used to be very longing for the second that I used to be contacted about it. And all the things that occurred afterwards simply felt like the appropriate step ahead.”
What did the critics say about Practice Goals?
As a result of the film has already technically been launched and opinions weren’t below embargo, we already know what a few of the high voices take into consideration the drama. Because it stands, the film holds a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes, primarily based on 36 reviews.
The Playlist’s Marshall Shaffer mentioned of their evaluation, giving the movie an A-, “A great movie captures merely a life. An awesome movie like Practice Goals encompasses a complete lifestyle. Bentley’s modest, transferring epic of the frequent man is a factor of uncommon magnificence.”
Bilge Ebiri for New York Magazine equally praised the movie: “Via Edgerton’s subtly tormented efficiency, Patton’s narration, Adolpho Veloso’s rapturous cinematography, and a quavering rating by Bryce Dessner, the movie attracts us into Grainier’s unhappy, inexpressible eager for peace and goal.”
When will Practice Goals launch on Netflix? Will it have a theatrical launch?
First revealed by Deadline, the film shall be launched on Netflix globally on November twenty first, 2025, and also will obtain a restricted theatrical launch in america. The film is rated PG-13 for some violence and sexuality.
TRAIN DREAMS – (Pictured) Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier. Cr: Netflix © 2025
That is one in all two confirmed pickups that Netflix made on the Sundance Movie Pageant for 2025. Netflix additionally reportedly bid on and subsequently received the Selena Quintanilla documentary, which is scheduled for launch on Netflix on December third, 2025. The opposite pick-up was the documentary The Good Neighbor, directed by Geeta Gandbhir and scheduled for a 2025 launch. Netflix has been usually shopping for Sundance docs and movies for over a decade now. Pickups in recent times embody Ibelin and It’s What’s Inside from 2024, and in 2023, it acquired Run Rabbit Run, Truthful Play, and The Deepest Breath.
For extra on what’s nonetheless to come throughout the remainder of 2025, hold it locked right here on What’s on Netflix.
Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer, and Michael Heimler function producers. Joel Edgerton, Scott Hinckley, Greg Kwedar, and John Friedberg are govt producers on Practice Goals.
Image: Getty Pictures
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