Director:Thomas McCarthy
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams, Paul Benjamin

Finbar McBride is an ordinary kind of guy who lives a semi-boring life. He is obsessed with trains and works in a tiny shop repairing model trains. He leads a quiet solitary life, and he likes it that way. By the way, he’s a dwarf.

When his good friend dies, he leaves Fin an old train depot in a small New Jersey town. Fin moves into the depot eager for more solitary living. However, he soon finds his new living quarters a hub of activity for some of the small towns residents.

By this point, you’re probably cringing.  A dwarf? A small town? Eccentric characters? An obsession with trains? It sounds like a mish-mash of bad indie movie clichés. That’s pretty much what I thought. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this film.

The Station Agent is actually a refreshingly original and unsentimental movie. Rather than trying to dazzle us with camera tricks or over-the-top emotional scenes, first time director Thomas McCarthy keeps the film focused on the characters. The dialogue, direction and cinematography are cut to the bone. They keep the story moving along gracefully, but stay out of the way of the wonderful performances. This focus probably has a lot to do with McCarthy’s background as an actor.

Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale all deliver pitch perfect performances as the three leads of the film. They inhabit their roles effortlessly and honestly don’t even look like they’re trying.

They portray three very different people who are thrown together by the mundane nature of everyday life and end up forming a cautious friendship. Patricia Clarkson is Olivia, a local woman who has been through hell and is trying to somehow get through the rest of her life. Bobby Cannavale is Joe, a big-hearted lug who you’ll wish was really your best friend. And Peter Dinklage is Finbar, a man who happens to be a dwarf and is gunshy about relationships with other people. As good as everything about this film is, it’s Dinklage that really steals the show. For what is essentially the main character, he has a tiny amount of dialogue, but still delivers a fully fleshed out and complicated performance.

The film is almost defiantly anti-Hollywood in its refusal to deliver overly-emotional moments. The Station Agent will probably work even better on DVD than it does in the theater. If you see this with the wrong crowd, it could easily sink your enjoyment of this film. It’s understated, quiet style could easily be destroyed by an audience with a short attention span an an inability to keep their mouth closed when they chew popcorn.

Tom McCarthy has delivered a fine film with a compelling story, fine direction and some of the best performances you’ll see all year. 

Review by Christopher Sharpe.