The Station Agent (2003)

Rating: * * * * (out of 5)

Tom McCarthy's The Station Agent is a story about a loner, rather than a story about a dwarf. It is about loneliness, rather than about being different.

Finbar McBride (played by Peter Dinklage) is a train enthusiast who works in a model train shop. He tries to mind his own business, even though he attracts strange looks and sometimes insensitive comments from others. Fin is a lonely person, but he would never admit it. One day, upon his co-worker's death, Fin finds that he has inherited a train depot in New Jersey. He moves in to the property, determines to live a life of solitude. The life Fin envisions does not last long, as his gregarious neighbor, Joe Oramas (played by Bobby Cannavale), seems intent on being his friend. Their personalities cannot be more disparate. Joe, a Cuban who runs a hotdog stand right next to Fin's train depot, cannot stand of a moment of not talking, while Fin generally just gives one word answers. There is one funny scene where Fin reluctantly agrees to read with Joe as long as Joe does not talk to him: ''You said you weren't going to talk to me, Joe.'' ''It's been, like, 20 minutes.'' ''Nine.'' ''You timed me?'' ''Yup.'' ''That's cold, bro.''

Another of Fin's neighbors, Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a divorced artist, also takes a liking to her new taciturn neighbor. They meet when Olivia almost runs Fin over, twice. Since then, she tries everything to make up for it. Gradually, we sense that the reason why both Joe and Olivia try so hard to be friends with Fin has more to do with their own loneliness than with Fin's.

Fin meets other people in the small town. He meets a pretty librarian, Emily (Michelle Williams), who screams when she first sees Fin, and feels bad about it ever since. Her boyfriend is one of those people who gives someone like Fin a hard time simply because of how he looks. A little black girl, Cleo (Raven Goodwin), follows Fin around because she is curious about him. It becomes clear pretty soon that these people are all misfits in one way or another. In face, Fin might be the most together person of them all.

His height is not an issue for those who look past it. There is a moment early in the film when Joe asks Fin, "So, do you people have a club or something?" Both Fin and Olivia, and I suspect, the audience, think that Joe is referring to a club for dwarfs. When we discover that Joe is actually referring to club for train enthusiasts, it is also a reminder for us to think of Fin as any other person, and not be obsessed with his height.

What is so refreshing about The Station Agent is that Fin is portrayed as a romantic lead. McCarthy does a good job of not take the obvious route to make the viewers feel overly sympathetic towards Fin based on his appearance. Although one scene, when Fin gets drunk in a bar and tells everyone to take a good look at him, does come close to stepping over that fine line.

The Station Agent is a quiet film with quiet performances. McCarthy takes his time to tell the story. While we watch the people on screen just talking, and just hanging out, we learn about them just as they learn about each other. There are some funny moments, and I am glad McCarthy did not play them simply for laughs, because ultimately it is about the sadness of the characters.

Written and directed by Tom McCarthy; director of photography, Oliver Bokelberg; edited by Tom McArdle; music by Stephen Trask; production designer, John Paino; produced by Mary Jane Skalski, Robert May and Kathryn Tucker; released by Miramax Films.
WITH: Peter Dinklage (Finbar McBride), Patricia Clarkson (Olivia Harris), Bobby Cannavale (Joe Oramas), Raven Goodwin (Cleo), Paul Benjamin (Henry Styles) and Michelle Williams (Emily).

MPAA: Rated R for language and some drug content.
Runtime: 88 min / USA:89 min (Encore print)
Year of release: 2003

Awards:
2003 Sundance Film Festival: Audience Award: Drama
2004 Independent Spirit Awards: Best Male Lead nominee: Peter Dinklage


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