joebondo The Station Agent is NOT a film for everyone. If you're thing is Action, adventure, Sci-fi, you'll find none of these genres in The Station Agent. It's not a comedy, a romance or a horror film. This is a CHARACTER STUDY of a man, who happens to be a dwarf. There is some drama in the film which mainly comes from our main protagonists' (Fin) friend, Olivia. With that said, if you're not into films with all dialogue, this may not be for you.The story is about a man, who happens to be a dwarf, named Fin, who Inherits a station house left to him by his recently deceased friend. Fin is a loner and does not wish to engage in the company of anyone. He eventually starts taking walks with the coffee vendor, Joe, who slowly brings Fin out of his shell and is becoming more sociable. He also befriends an older woman named Olivia who is still going through rough times only 2 years removed from her sons' death (she turned her head for a second and he had an accident on monkey bars). Olivia is also separated from her husband and eventually finds out that he is not only with another woman, but he has gotten the woman pregnant. Fin also meets a librarian who appears to have a small crush on him, and a young school girl, named Cleo.Those are the main characters in the film as we follow Fin and his everyday life as he gradually becomes more sociable around these circle of characters. Throughout the movie, we also see the ignorance of people, young, middle aged & old, of how they treat Fin like a "freak show" with ignorant remarks as he is the subject of mocking & ridicule by passers-by. Fin eventually goes back to his reclusive way of life after being stood up by Joe, who was supposed to meet Fin at a bar with Joe's dad. But it's not long before Fin comes out of his shell once again. Shortly after he gets drunk and falls asleep on some railroad tracks, we don't see it, but a train actually goes by while he is on the tracks. Thankfully due to his dwarf stature, he is unharmed. He eventually goes to check on his friend Olivia, who also has withdrawn herself from public due to severe depression. Fin finds her in the nick of time as she appears to have overdosed. Fin gets Olivia help. Eventually Fin, Olivia & Joe resume their quirky, yet charming friendship. Not much of a story you might think, but it works (for me anyway). It's a feel good story about an everyday man in life, who happens to be a dwarf, but as we find out, he's no different than anyone else. When you are in the mood for a feel good story, with no expectations of action or romance, that's when you should watch The Station Agent.

eric262003 "The Station Agent" is a warming and funny comedy-drama centered on the many ways we can become and obtain friendship and the many wonderful elements that come about when you find friends when you least expect it. In life, friendship is based primarily by virtue of choice. The people who we select as friends will always be the turning point to our choices in life. Our lifetime is very short and in many instances, friendship doesn't last forever. But with our short time on Earth, I must ask you, who do you want to spend your limited time with? Who do you want to grow old with? No one can really decide that for you, you're on your own in selecting the friends you hang around with. Sure our parents may or may not approve who our friends are, but that should never set you back on the people who you find comfort and reassurance because you may never find that bond again once they or you decide to move on. It's quite obscure to see a movie that deeply examines the essence of finding friends which you never see very much in comedies, action, drama, horror and suspense films. It's the simple pleasures like "The Station Agent" that reveal a plethora of unity within the newly developed friendships within the characters. And in films like these we as the audience feel very involved as these characters tend to grow on you. We laugh and we cry towards their anecdotes as we listen to their very words that come out as we give them the feeling that they exist on this Earth and give them that feeling of importance because that's what friends are all about. Connection is a principal formula to friendship as it temporarily eases pain, stress, tension and most of all lonesomeness. "The Station Agent" is a film where its focal concentration is the evolution of friendship by the human condition and the wonderful things that come with it. By spending 89 minutes with the three main character (Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale and Patricia Clarkson) we face issues that involve trains, grief, reclusive ways, living in silence and the multitude of intimate bonding that brings friendships together. It truly is a feel-good movie showing how you could be friends while refraining from being judgmental about it. Finbar McBride (Dinklage) is a diminutive employee at a model train shop in the New Jersey area. He really loves his job, but he's a very taciturn guy who really has no one really to consider a friend except for his boss, Henry Styles (Paul Benjamin), who quite the loner himself. Suddenly without warning, Mr. Styles dies and the hobby shop will not operate. Fin gets an abandoned train depot located in the Newfoundland area in West Milford, New Jersey and prepares for an eternal life of pure solitude. He gathers his few belongings and decides to move into the area away from humanity where he won't be ostracized by his diminutive size. When he finally arrives at his newly inherited estate, Fin observes his new place for retreat. It's next to the tracks that are still running. There's a couch to sleep on. There is no phone while water and electricity have yet to be installed. But other than that, Fin has found his paradise. The next morning, something magical happens to Fin. He is awakened by a Cuban-born hot dog vendor named Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale), a talkative young man who's food truck is parked right next to Fin's depot. While Joe's a chatty individual, Fin is a man of little saying while Joe's struggling in trying to befriend Fin to the point at times being a bit overbearing. The other visitor that joins the fray is an artist battling depression named Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson). She feels bad for twice nearly crushing Fin and apologizes for her careless driving by offering him a bottle of booze.To get away from these strangers, Fin walks along the railroad tracks to scout the timing of the trains. But their strive for attention slowly brings him together with these people. At the same time, they understand when he needs his time for solitude, while he begins that like him, these individuals are also faced with pain and grief. Fin begins to become acquainted by the local librarian Emily (Michelle Williams) and a kindly young girl named Cleo (Raven Goodwin) who tries to persuade Fin to come to her school to discuss his love for trains. In his debut as screenwriter and director, Tom McCarthy successfully created the essential foibles and quirkiness toward each character which makes them very interesting all the while making them someone you could relate to. Fin is an introverted outcast, but has a low-key appeal towards the extroverted Joe and the neurotic and frazzled Olivia. They try to break Fin out of his shell and realize he has many traits that can get people's attention.This trifecta eventually stir some sizzling fun and engaging moments that have been dormant for quite a very long time. The performances by Dinklage, Cannavale and Clarkson are will keep you engaged and we hope that with these three bonding, we hope that they will change their ways they see life and we truly hope for the better of these three individuals after the credits roll. They learn that with friendship, we can recover from our inner demons and they can find it in themselves that even if everybody else has forgotten about them, they at least have each other to depend on.

Chris Smith (RockPortReview) One of the great independent films of 2003 and one of my personal favorites, "The Station Agent" introduces us to the exceptionally talented Peter Dinklage. Although upon first impression most people will only notice his 4 foot 5 inch frame, his deeply brooding and thoughtful performances rival any actor working today. Finbar McBride, or Fin, is a solitary man who works at a hobby shop repairing and working with model trains. One day his friend and the stores owner Henry falls over dead, presumably of a heart attack. Fin is lost in despair, Henry however has left him a small but abandoned depot station to him in his will. With nothing tying him down Fin moves into to the Newfoundland depot station. Just across the way is an oddly placed food truck called Gorgeous Franks and its lone operator Joe, played by Bobby Cannavale. Joe is a friendly and energetic man who's intrigued by Fin arrival. Although not looking to make friends Fin eventually comes around and allows him to hang around with him. Also upon arrival Fin has a few run ins with Olivia, played by Patricia Clarkson. She doesn't make that good a first or second impression for that matter as she almost runs him over with her car, twice. Olivia is a friendly but slightly frantic, painter who is separated from her rich husband, Joe however has had his eye on her for quite some time.Writer and director Tom McCarthy creates this world for these characters that is based in small town reality. Fin has a number of encounters with a curious little African American girl as well as a possible girlfriend in the form of the young and beautiful librarian, played by Michelle Williams. Although the heart of the story is the relationship between the three friend Fin, Joe, and Olivia. All are damaged in their own way and looking for something real. Finn fights with loneliness and alienation, while the return of Olivia's husband throws her life into an angry spiral. Joe is full of life and charisma, but misses his son, who lives with his mother. "The Station Agent" is a wonderful film, skillfully acted on all fronts with a deeply heartfelt story of a marginalized man trying to find his place in the world.Although a lot of people now know Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister on "Game of Thrones", please take a moment to watch "The Station Agent".

sddavis63 Peter Dinklage is a very familiar face. Anyone who watches movies has seen him. Whenever Hollywood needs a "little person" to fill a role, he's the obvious choice. He's a good actor. Because of his size, though, his roles tend to be somewhat limited, and most of the movies I've seen him in have him playing a secondary character whose purpose seems to be to add a bit of a comedic note that revolves around his short stature. As an example, I think of his turn as children's author Miles Finch in "Elf" - where what I remember him for mostly is his very funny confrontation with Will Ferrell's Buddy the Elf. So, generally (and perhaps inevitably) his stature becomes something to laugh at - not in an offensive way, but because it becomes the focal point of usually very funny scenes. One reason I liked "The Station Agent" though was that it gave Dinklage a meatier role. His stature is still front and centre (how could it not be) but it isn't really what the movie is about. The movie is about friendship and trust - and instead of playing a secondary character, Dinklage is clearly the star of this movie, and demonstrates his talent, showing that he can carry a movie , doing more than just filling a niche.His character in this is Finbar McBride. Fin's life revolves apparently around one friend and one interest. His friend is Henry, and his interest is trains. Henry owns a store devoted to train memorabilia, but dies early in the movie, leaving Fin alone and with nothing - except for a rundown old train station that Henry left him in his will. Travelling to Newfoundland, New Jersey, Fin takes up residence in the station and seems quite prepared to live as a hermit.You feel a certain sympathy for Fin at this point. Clearly there are major trust issues. In your mind, you start to create a backstory for him. I would expect that he had dealt with a lifetime of ridicule and being made fun of, and now the only person who had ever accepted him and the only person he had ever really trusted (Henry) was gone. Why not become a recluse? Why not just say "screw the world," take up residence in the station and ignore everyone and everything- except the trains that he's so taken with? That would be tempting. If I were in Fin's shoes I might well make that choice as well.But being a recluse isn't easy. Inevitably, people appear. It starts with Joe (Bobby Cannavale), who operates a food truck and sets up business right outside the abandoned station every morning. Then there's Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), who almost runs him down (twice!) - a separated woman with a tragic history revolving around the death of her young son. There's Cleo (Raven Goodwin), a young girl who's a bit overweight and finds Fin intriguing, and there's Emily (Michelle Williams), the local librarian who's pregnant and in an apparently abusive relationship. Those four characters (mostly the first two) become the circle around Fin. All start off intrigued by Fin - but not only by his size. In this sense, the movie isn't stereotypical in its presentation of dwarfism. They're also intrigued by Fin the person - the station he lives in, his interest in trains. Those characters and their reaction to and interest in Fin allow Dinklage to play a very serious role. It's not without humour, but the humour isn't at his expense, or at the expense of dwarfism. It's just a natural humour that arises from the situations he finds himself in - and, humour aside, the movie isn't a comedy. It's a very serious portrayal of the struggles someone like Fin might have in bonding with people, developing trust and making friendships. It's not an exciting movie, nor is it an action movie. In some ways it's a rather slow, meandering story that doesn't lead up to any one particularly great climax - but it's interesting all the way through and satisfying in the end. Well done by all involved.I want to give mention to director Thomas McCarthy for some extremely good camera work in this - which does, in fact, focus on Dinklage and his size - but in a definitely respectful way that added to the story. McCarthy manages to shoot some scenes in a way that make Dinklage look even smaller than he is - you get a sort of "one little man against a big world" sense from those scenes that's very appropriate to the story. Then there are other scenes which are filmed in a way that you don't even notice that Fin is small. He just fits in with the rest of the characters and you don't pay attention to his size - again appropriate to those points in the story where this is done, as Fin becomes not "one little man" but just "a man" who has to deal with life as it comes at him - and sometimes as it comes at those he has chosen to befriend. Overall, a very well done movie. (8/10)