Johnny Berlin

Filmmaker Dominic J. DeJoseph's documentary Johnny Berlin follows the titular train porter on the job, aboard a luxury train from Seattle to Los Angeles. Curiously engaging and slightly pathetic, Johnny "Berlin" Hyrns (the nickname comes from the Berlin train car he works on) is a typical American dreamer, who fancies himself a writer, but lives a more down-to-earth reality. "I'm semi-happy…I imagine," he says, but his true fulfillment will depend on whether he can achieve his elusive goal of traveling to exotic places such as Phnom Penh (or maybe New Zealand) to write his great American novel. Most of the time, however, Johnny just goes about his business with admirable efficiency and garrulous charm. Is Johnny a "loser"? Maybe. But if that's the case, he's like most people working at various jobs while hoping for something better, and he's occasionally interesting with his nonstop talk about trains, rock music, personal philosophy, and restless yearnings. Of course, there are a million guys like Johnny, but DeJoseph (whose previous work includes directing music videos for R.E.M., which explains the involvement of co-executive producer Michael Stipe) doesn't make a strong enough case for choosing this guy as the focus for an hour-long documentary. Optional. Aud: P. (J. Shannon)