Clint Bentley has spent the last few years staring down grief and transformation, both on-screen and off. The writer-director of “ Train Dreams ,” adapted from Denis Johnson’s Pulitzer Prize finalist novella, lost both of his parents in quick succession while preparing the film, an experience that reshaped his understanding of life, art and memory. “Right after they passed, I would have these dreams that didn’t feel like dreams at times,” Bentley tells Variety ‘s Awards Circuit Podcast . “They