Cheap Station Agent (Video) (Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson) (Thomas McCarthy) Price

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Customer Reviews of Station Agent

A perfect slice of life.
Tom McCarthy's "The Station Agent" is the sort of movie that--if it even gets made in America--seldom makes it past the festival circuit to a wider audience. That "The Station Agent" did so is an unexpected and delightful surprise. This gentle, poignant film--which unfolds like a perfectly wrought short story--tells the tale of Fin (Peter Dinklage), a four-foot five-inch, thirtysomething guy who works in a model train store and has a lifelong fascination with trains. Used to the mockery of those around him, he lives devoid of human contact other than his sympathetic boss and a few fellow train enthusiasts. When his boss dies, he leaves Fin a decrepit train depot in a rural part of New Jersey; Fin, having no other place that will take him in, goes to the depot to live. There, almost against his will, he begins to establish contact with a few of the local residents, including two who in their own ways are as lonely as Fin: Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a convivial, motormouth hot dog vendor saddled with a chronically ill father, and Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), an eccentric artist grieving over the loss of her small son and her bitter estrangement from her husband. How Fin, Joe and Olivia slowly, clumsily discover their common bonds forms the main story of "The Station Agent." It's scarcely an earth-shattering story, and the low budget is always evident; yet "The Station Agent" never puts a foot wrong. The story and dialogue continually offer small, revealing surprises about the characters, and the performances of Dinklage, Clarkson and Cannavale are exquisitely natural and unaffected. "The Station Agent" is a movie most people will probably never hear of, but those who see it will cherish it.

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a great movie with wonderful character potrait
If you get a chance watch this movie. You will like it. The movie has very few dialogues but they are superlative. It deals with a difficult topic - dwarfs and the ridicule they go through. Finnbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is the central character and is extremely powerful but quite - he is a dwarf and gets ridiculed left and right but still does not loose his composure (except for once) when he goes to the local bar and gets drunk. But then every human being has his or her weaknesses. Finn loves train and details of train - his dream comes true when he goes for train chasing with his friend Joe (the hot dog vendor). Life is difficult for him but he accepts it in its ways and in his way - rather than fighting it head on, he used diplomacy and works around the difficulties. Thomas McCarthy has done an wonderful job of mixing the characters with the environment even though they all stand out odd. Olivia the local artist who is also suffering from a lose of a son becomes friends with Finn and Joe and in the process befriends her already estranged husband. Just one point - I think the photography - especially the canvas selection and the light effects could have been little better. Still this is one of the year's best movies.

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Charming, Subtle Piece
A very charming charcter study, indeed. Our dwarf friend, Fin, inherits an abandoned train depot, in Newfoundland, NJ, and so goes there to retire and live almost as a hermit. Against his will, he forms a strange sort of bond with a frustrated artist, whose son has recently died, and whose husband has left her cold, and a jovial, outspoken Cuban hotdog/cafe con leche vendor who sells right in front of Fin's depot.
There isn't much plot, but the somewhat dark/dry humor combined with the fine acting and the slow unveiling of the characters make for an entertaining flick, which should stick with you for a few days.