Review: The Station Agent

In Thomas McCarthy's Sundance winner, the first time director/writer quirkily tackles the issue of dwarfism.

This indie flick revolves around the budding friendship of three misplaced souls. Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), a dwarf with a passion for trains, inherits an abandoned train station in a remote part of New Jersey. There he meets Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a lively hot dog vendor who thrusts his lust for life upon the reclusive Fin. The trio is completed when a local artist Olivia (Patricia Clarkson) nearly runs Fin over with her SUV not once, but twice. By the end of the movie, Fin is forced to open up to Joe and Olivia and discovers the power of friendship.

One might expect a film about a lonely dwarf to ooze melancholy, but one leaves The Station Agent feeling surprisingly upbeat. Cannavale imbues the film with real humor while dealing with the issue of how we must learn to accept unavoidable circumstances in our lives. Ultimately, though, it is Dinklage's weighty performance that makes this movie truly worthwhile.

-- Leah Collins

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