Review: The Station Agent

Rated R | 88 mins

“It's funny how people see me and treat me, since I'm really just a simply, boring person,” says Finbar McBride (played by a wonderful Peter Dinklage). Born with dwarfism, his short stature has constantly made him the subject of society’s tasteless sense of humor, leaving him isolated from all but one person—his only friend—who owns the shop he works in. There, the two sell every model-train associated product in existence.

In the opening scene of the film, Fin’s boss and companion dies as a result of heart failure, when working. Shortly afterwards, Fin is told that he has inherited an old train station depot. He decides to live in it, to both satisfy his love of the method of transportation and the budget in which he lives on. He makes his way out to the rural New Jersey community on foot, getting there in about a day’s time. There, he becomes acquainted with Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a talkative and friendly hotdog vendor, who sells items in front of his new home, and Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a middle-aged woman who is still coping with divorcing her husband and losing her son. The dialogue exchanged between these three is magical; the evolution of their relationship feels humanely natural. From the very first frame of the flick until long past the last one, we sympathize with Fin, and believe that he’s just a normal guy, as he truly is. We, the audience, warm-heartedly welcome him, in the same fashion his two new friends do.

When people poke fun of Fin, the audience realizes that he’s used to it. He has built up a wall between himself and the stereotypical population, to minimize explosions of his anger. Because we are aware of this, each time a rude comment is made about him, we almost feel sorry for the people making them, rather than Fin himself. They’ve merely fallen into the conformist attitude of society, which mindlessly detracts from their personalities.

Writer/director Thomas McCarthy created this role for Dinklage, who is a dwarf in real life. Even though Dinklage admits to being less angered about different people’s unacceptable jokes regarding him, he has, in a sense, lived this role. His experience translates into the very greatness he captures in his work, leaving viewers amazed. Clarkson and Cannavale are also terrific; the former bringing out the feelings of sorrow of her character, and the latter with those of humor.

The ending of the picture, which I will not divulge for your sake, is, in a word, miraculous. I chose to interpret it as upbeat, even though one could certainly say it’s quite pessimistic. But, the most important aspect of it is that it stresses the importance of friendship. The Station Agent is honest in every sense, and in order to appreciate it, we must accept and cherish every part of it, just the way it is—kind of like how we should with Fin himself.

Every emotion that anyone has ever experienced on earth is somewhere in this movie’s contents, waiting to be discovered. It’s as poignant as reality—a jigsaw puzzle of desire, ecstasy, and despair—mystically captivating everyone who is willing to embrace it.