RAILS AND TIES

Rails and Ties is a quiet, unassuming little movie that somehow works against all odds.

Rails and Ties is a quiet, unassuming little movie that somehow works against all odds. The plot hinges on the unlikeliest events and connections, but that's not what you're thinking as the story unfolds before you. You're drawn in by characters who feel like real people, and you're moved by the events that shape their lives.

Kevin Bacon stars as Tom Stark, a veteran train conductor who has just learned that his wife, Megan (Marcia Gay Harden), is very likely to lose her life to cancer at age 42. The news is weighing heavy on his mind when he sets out on the next run to Seattle, but he does his best to put on a brave face and carry on as usual. Little does he know that in a crappy apartment just up the line, a depressed, drug-addicted mother is planning to plant herself and her son directly in his path.

By the time it's clear that the car on the tracks just isn't moving, it's far too late to stop the train without running the risk of derailing and harming the passengers inside. Tom follows the emergency guidelines to the letter, but the woman is killed upon impact and her son is left an orphan. In addition to his worries at home, Tom now has to take administrative leave and deal with a formal investigation into his conduct.

Needless to say, things are looking pretty bleak in Tom's world. Megan has resigned herself to death, and is now asking the hard questions about their life. Why didn't they ever have children? Why did they move so often? Why again was Tom gone all the time? Tom has no easy answers to offer her, and he wants desperately for her to fight for her life, to undergo some sort of treatment...to give him more time to get things right. All of this drives a wedge between them just when they need each other most.

In the midst of all this turmoil, the boy whose mother was killed by Tom's train appears on their doorstep. Davey (Miles Heizer) is angry and alone, and wants nothing more than to blame someone for the loss of his mother. She may have been a train wreck of a person, but she was all the boy had. After throwing a few punches at Tom, Davey allows himself to be comforted by Megan, and for the first time in the movie, things begin to make sense for everyone.

Not only does Megan finally have a chance to mother someone, Davey finds himself in a stable environment for the first time in his life. Tom's not so sure about any of this, but Davey's presence somehow bridges the gap between him and Megan. Each day serves as a healing experience for the unlikely threesome, and though their time together may be short, it will leave them better prepared to face the future.

Obviously there are serious problems created by this odd little arrangement. Davey is a missing child, so harboring him without telling the authorities is dodgy to say the least. The fact that Tom was driving the train that killed Davey's mother complicates the situation even further. All along you're just biting your nails, hoping that somehow things will work out as they should, and all the while you know that one day Megan is going to lose her life, Tom is going to have to face the outcome of the investigation, and Davey is going to have to find a legal guardian. It's a compelling tearjerker of a movie, at times bordering on stressful. There are so many ways it could have gone wrong, but Alison Eastwood's thoughtful direction combined with Marcia Gay Harden and Kevin Bacon's authenticity make Rails and Ties a satisfying and successful film.