THE STATION AGENT Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Tom McCarthy Producers: Robert May, Mary Jane Skalski, Kathryn Tucker Writer: Tom McCarthy Director of Photography: Oliver Bokelberg Cast: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew.

Click on the photo to buy merchandise from The Station Agent.

Comment on the message boards.

Review by: Dan Tester
9/29/03

It seems that there are few original ideas left in the world of movies. Surely, the concept of a film about a lonely dwarf who is a train enthusiast is long overdue, and now we have it in the form of The Station Agent, a really good movie about lonely souls who find solace in each other in a remote area of New Jersey.

The central figure of the tale is Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), a sad, angry dwarf, who has grown tired of the ignorance of his urban surroundings. A simple walk to the grocery store is a daily routine of hurtful comments from neighborhood kids and piercing stares from adults who should know better. His existence is one of isolation and sadness. His only real inspiration in life comes from trains -- he studies their history, sits for hours upon end waiting for the 2 o'clock to rumble past as he takes notes, and works in a train enthusiast hobby shop to pay the bills. One day the elderly owner of the shop drops dead, and Finbar is shocked to discover the lonely old guy not only owned an abandoned train depot in Newfoundland, New Jersey, but that he has been willed the property. Sure, this is a wild gimmick -- how lucky to be a train enthusiast and be left a train depot in a will. But this is only a small hiccup in believability, and for better or worse, the film earns its stripes despite. And thus Finbar escapes there, away from the urban nightmare that has become his life, to the rural quiet of the dilapidated depot. Here he can be alone, away from the pain, and find some peace, or so he thinks.

Upon arrival to his abandoned refuge of the depot, he is immediately approached by a number of wacky "rural" characters who share a common thread with Finbar -- loneliness. One is Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson), a scatterbrained artist who literally almost runs over Finbar twice in the same day with her SUV. Finbar immediately intrigues Olivia, and the woman attempts to strike up a friendship, but Finbar just wants to be left alone. Also on the scene is Joe Aramas (Bobby Cannavale), the goofy son of a catering truck magnate who has been sent to the rural outskirts to offer coffee and hot dogs to the boonies. His is a boring life, sitting day upon day in the blazing sun waiting to sell his products, and when he sees little Finbar stroll past one day, he too is intrigued, and more than a little imposing. As the film progresses, Finbar drops his guard a bit, and the three form a kind of dysfunctional family unit, with Finbar the unlikely father.

The real key to the success of The Station Agent in my opinion is the remarkable performance of Peter Dinklage as Finbar. This is a real character, with not a sense of the stereotypical portrait it could be. His problems, his fears, and his loneliness are those that we all feel from time to time, only his is encased in this little body. Dinklage has been a character actor for a few years now (he appeared in Tom DiCillo's Living in Oblivion in 1994 as the irate dwarf being exploited in a film production dream sequence who walks off the set screaming, "Have you ever had a dream with a dwarf in it? Do you know anyone who's had a dream with a dwarf in it? No! I don't even have dreams with dwarves in them."), but here he plays a real person, and his performance is as fully realized as it is entertaining. This is award worthy stuff. The always-great Patricia Clarkson is great once again as the dotty Olivia, and her character follows a real emotional arc from her first appearance to her last, although it is her subplot that ultimately drives the plot slightly askew. Bobby Cannavale's Joe really annoyed me at first -- he was just so over the top with his child-like performance -- but then the film establishes the father and son kind of relationship as mentioned before, and his character falls into place more acceptably.

I don't want to give the impression here that The Station Agent is a downer. It is really very funny most of the time, in a subtle, sly way. But it also features a fair amount of drama as well. Short of a silly subplot involving Dawson's Creek alum Michelle Williams as a put-upon "townie" who finds some solace in Finbar as well (leading to a ridiculous moment that is so out of the blue it elicited nervous giggles in the screening room), The Station Agent is a very entertaining and well-told tale. It begins to fall into the dangerous "cliché zone" towards the end, but it is not a terminal situation at all, just a bit of a let down. It is simply refreshing to see a movie once in a while that is completely original, and if you have these desires too, The Station Agent is most highly recommended. And if you are a train enthusiast, your time has come as well.

But as always, it is only one man's opinion.

(A Miramax Films release. Opens in limited release on October 3, 2003. Expands to more cities at later dates.)