Terrence Malick obviously inspired this beautiful and gripping story about a life over the course of 80 years.

It may seem unremarkable, as we follow the experiences of Robert, an orphaned child who grew up to become first a railroad worker, then a logger; love enters his life in the form of Gladys and a daughter, but there’s also tragedy, constant hard work, racism and exploitation of workers in the early years of the 1900s.

The fascination with Malick is visible in the cinematography, use of music and the film’s unhurried pace, adding to a considerable emotional impact. Great cast, not least Joel Edgerton who’s quietly moving.

2025-U.S. 102 min. Color. Directed by Clint Bentley. Screenplay: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar. Novella: Denis Johnson. Cinematography: Adolpho Veloso. Cast: Joel Edgerton (Robert Grainier), Felicity Jones (Gladys Grainier), Clifton Collins, Jr. (Boomer), Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, Chuck Tucker. Narrated by Will Patton.

Trivia: Co-executive produced by Edgerton.

Last word: “There’s this feeling that I’ve had before, and I’ve talked to several people who have experienced the same, I don’t think this is uncommon, after you’ve lost somebody, sometimes you have a dream of them, but it feels less like a dream and more like some kind of visitation. It feels as real as anything else that happened. Then you get away from it, and I look back on some of those experiences, they feel as real as memories that I have of these people. So part of that I wanted to try and get across was this blurring of the line between this world and the next, whatever that is. Somebody coming across the veil of it.” (Bentley on depicting grief in the film, Hammer to Nail)