The Station Agent

"The Station Agent", the film, shares much with its main character, Finbar McBride (the almost-unknown Peter Dinklage): The film is short and more than a bit shy. However, just like Fin, "The Station Agent" has a deep well of human emotion that makes it not only deep and moving, but consistently entertaining and captivating. The inexperience of nearly every member of the films ultra-green cast and crew show through to some extent, but instead of a weakness, their genuine take on human life from a realistic and unpretentious perspective is a relieving breath of fresh air in the modern world of overproduced cinema.

"The Station Agent" is the story of the train-fanatic Fin, a deeply unsociable and alienated dwarf, who moves from a rundown city in New Jersey to an abandoned train depot in the rural backwaters of our glorious state after inheriting the shack of a former depot from his now-deceased business partner.

In his new home, Fin, to his hermitic chagrin, finds himself living in close quarters to an over-friendly and quite lonely food-cart vendor Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale of "The Guru" and "Washington Heights"). Joe futilely tries to win Fin's friendship, only to face the cold wall of misanthropy that Fin has built up from years of abuse we see him suffer because of his height.

Joe finally succeeds by nudging his way into the accidental camaraderie between Fin and the flighty, depressed, and reclusive divorcée Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson of "Far from Heaven" and "The Green Mile"). As their relationship develops, all three grow as people, not in the steady and monotonic way common to character arc in film, but in fitful, confused and inconsistent patterns.

Fin is eventually even able to branch out further, befriending the young and beautiful local librarian Emily (Michelle Williams of "Dick" and "Dawson's Creek") and a kind young girl, Cleo (the neophyte Raven Goodwin). The film traces the relationships among these characters and the challenges, internal and external, that they face in a slow, small-town lifestyle.

The film's strengths are manifold. Fin, Joe and Olivia are each, in their own contrasting ways, irresistibly real characters. Fin's life teaches us an important lesson about human dignity; the film doesn't portray Fin's desire to be pity, but rather simple human respect. Just watching the film makes one reevaluate the ways in which one is quick to judge and categorize others.

The acting, while not deeply moving, is believable and very down to earth. The script is particularly strong in its dialogue which, while a bit sparse, has the flow of life and draws us into believing in the humanity of the characters. The screenplay and set design are cleverly and careful formed to give layers of subtlety that add much the film and are quite rare in modern cinema. Furthermore, the film, at 90 minutes long, rarely drags despite its strong emphasis on characters and theme over plot.

Nonetheless, the film is not as perfectly made as it has been perfectly received by the critical community. The cinematography and soundtrack, while getting the job done, are what would be expected from first-timers.

The direction, too, is probably a little more understated than is ideal; director-screenwriter Thomas McCarthy, in his first endeavor, has shown himself to have significant potential, but he has not fully realized it. The script suffers somewhat from his lack of experience as well; too many scenes are repetitious and the narrow character cast is maintained by an artificially small web of interactions, even for a small town, instead of by the choices and social decisions of the characters.

The mysteries lurking in the pasts of the characters are not fatally underdeveloped, and might even been seen as intriguing, but probably could be explicated better without any serious loss of interest and with substantial gain in clarity.

On the balance, however, this is a very good and extremely important film; good because it entertains and consistently uplifts the viewer; important because it provokes thought and forces the audience to reconsider their own prejudices. Furthermore, Princeton students have little excuse to miss this gem as it plays Monday thru Thursday at the Princeton Garden Theaters for $6.00 with a PUID at 6:45 and 9:00 p.m. For a pleasant study break during the week, or a relaxing and thoughtful alternative for the weekends, this film is a great choice.