Night Train to Lisbon is the kind of film that professional critics love to hate: a somewhat contrived feeling, good-natured, intellectual adventure story, with themes of love, life, politics and history, and (worst of all) a happy ending. But the pretensions of highly-paid, egghead reviewers are not a concern here at Irreviews. Night Train to Lisbon is a blast for anyone appreciating a good rambling yarn, with interesting characters and meaningful emotional themes and historical content, and featuring a warm, talented cast shot in beautiful locations. I loved this film, and could not believe it when the Village East dumped it the very next day (before I could drag my wife to see it) to make room for 10 million screenings of Saving Mr. Banks.

Once you get passed the initial, somewhat contrived and fantastical (but wonderful) opening which propels Jeremy Irons on his journey to Lisbon, you are swept up in his painstaking reconstruction of a story of love and political intrigue from the decade before the 1974 revolution in Portugal, which swept aside 50 years of brutal fascist rule. Along the way, he meets a wonderful array of characters who slowly fill in the many missing pieces of the story, conveyed in a series of surprisingly well-acted and well-written flashbacks. I have never been a fan of the “parallel narratives” approach to filmmaking, but Night Train to Lisbon actually pulled it off admirably. This film works on so many levels: it’s a political film about a revolutionary movement, a film about class-defying friendship, a triangle-based love story, a film about growing older and overcoming disappointment and inertia in life, and (though the quasi-philosophical book that serves as the narrative centerpiece of the story) a film about the emotional complexity of coming to terms with one’s approach to life itself. All this probably sounds pretty grandiose, but these various themes were woven together really well, and in a very pleasing, easy-to-watch manner, and each theme left its own lingering impression on me after watching the film. I’m not saying the film is super-deep, but I am saying its ideas are more compelling than you might imagine.

All the characters are nicely developed (both their younger and older selves,) and the film is cast brilliantly. I’m not really a Jeremy Irons fan, but he’s fabulous here, totally likable, and bringing a warm, grounded energy to the entire film. The optometrist who fixes his glasses, and then becomes part of his adventure is played by Martina Gedeck (Christa-Maria Sieland in The Lives of Others) a delightful actress who is a very welcome presence in any movie. The object of Iron’s investigation in Lisbon is a young doctor / philosopher played in flashbacks by the devilishly handsome Jack Huston (who recently played Jack Kerouac in Kill You Darlings, and also had a unflattering supporting role in American Hustle.) Also featured, and delivering excellent performances, are Charlotte Rampling, Lena Olin, Tom Courtenay, Christopher Lee, and Bruno Ganz (who played the old Stasi guy in Unknown.) But I should add that the no-name actors playing the younger characters are also really strong, and as an ensemble this cast gelled beautifully, collectively casting a warm and inviting spell over the viewer, and by the weight of their performances bringing order to the sprawling storylines and emotional themes, and the constant jumping back and forth in time.

It is obvious to everyone that Night Train to Lisbon sits in a genera plagued by horrible movies, a genera that embraces a panoply of crap ranging from Possession, to Letters to Juliette, to the oeuvre of Nicholas Sparks. But Night Train to Lisbon kind of opened my eyes to the possibilities of this much-maligned genera, largely because they reached a seldom achieved critical mass of ideas, narrative, acting talent, and cinematic beauty. The results are quite captivating, and I left the film looking forward to seeing it again.

Ignore the critics. Night Train to Lisbon is very enjoyable and well worth seeing. And luckily, Netflix already has it on DVD, so have at it!