El niño que jugaba con trenes
2004 · 10m · España
Directed by Jorge Blas
Genres: adventure, coming-of-age, fantasy
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
An emigrant boy obsessed with trains who lives in any town in today's Western Europe one day discovers the biggest and most beautiful train he has ever seen and, blinded by children's particular madness, sets out on a dangerous adventure in search of that fantastic train.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A boy chases a train through Europe—sounds like every coming-of-age cliché until you realize Blas is actually interrogating the gap between childhood obsession and the real world, which most filmmakers are too timid to leave unresolved.
The film sits comfortably in a lineage of European poetic realism, trading in the tender observation of a child's inner life against landscape; Blas's compositional choices and pacing demonstrate formal discipline that recalls the best of '90s Dardenne-adjacent work.
The entire film hinges on a single choice: treating the train not as metaphor but as genuine obsession, which means the camera never winks at the audience—that refusal to sentimentalize a kid's 'madness' is what makes the small, wandering narrative feel dangerous instead of safe.