The Surprising Studio Ghibli Film That Influenced Netflix’s Train Dreams [Exclusive]

Netflix is ​​about to release one of the best movies of 2025, historical drama Train Dreams from Clint Bentley’s Jockey. Based on Dennis Johnson’s 2011 novella of the same name, the film stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grenier, a man who works as a lumberjack and helps build railroads across the United States in the early 1900s. Much like the incredibly poignant Life of Chuck, the story follows a man who never achieved anything worthy of the history books, yet had a life full of people who cared about him – a life full of wonder, connection, and depth.

As /Film’s Chris Evangelista said in his review of Dream Train, this is a “brilliant look into the life of an ordinary man,” a soft, quiet ode to a narrative that is often heartbreaking and depressing, but finds beauty in quiet, simple moments. It’s the kind of movie that sneaks up on you and tears at your soul when you least expect it (even if it’s also funny at times).

Although this film is dramatic and non-fiction, it is also influenced by fantasy genre film to some extent. / ‘Train Dreams’ director Ben Pearson talks with Clint Bentley about the film’s cinematic influences, and after naming Tarkovsky (not too surprising), Bentley name-drops a surprise fan-favorite from Studio Ghibli.

“Princess Mononoke was something else.” [influence]Bentley explained: “Miyazaki’s film, it’s just about how he deals with people and time, and there’s no good guy and bad guy. There are people who do good things and people who do bad things, but everyone is human.”

One of the best films ever made by Ghibli, Princess Mononoke is a culmination of ideas and themes that Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki has been exploring for decades. The film follows a young prince who finds himself in the middle of a conflict between the inhabitants of a human town and the gods of the nearby forest. Miyazaki gives a lot of nuance to each character, showing each side to have flaws but also justifying themselves for their actions. Even the movie’s villain ends up being a somewhat sympathetic character.

Although “Dream Train” does not display such obvious conflict, it sees each character with the same compassion. The film shows that everyone experiences their own tragedies, and that people are part of our world one day and can be gone the next.

Likewise, “Train Dreams” shares a sense of spirituality that is central to Miyazaki’s film. Bentley explained that he was inspired by the “spirituality of nature” in the anime film […] Where nature is alive and it is its own character and strength that is not just a resource that we can take from, but actually a nation that lives next to us.”

“Dream Train” spends a lot of screen time contemplating nature, especially how it changed in the early twentieth century. Grenier spends his years traveling the United States performing hard manual labor, and we see the forests and vast landscapes that surround him, which Bentley imbues with an almost religious awe (particularly when Grenier looks out the window of one of the many trains he takes throughout the film). It may not feature the forest gods, but you can definitely see Miyazaki’s influence in this film.

“Train Dreams” is now streaming on Netflix.