The Station Agent
A handsome young dwarf inherits an abandoned railway station and inadvertently makes friends with three people, resulting in one of the most heartwarming and funny films of 2003. This surprise Sundance hit is a film that will stay with you long after you have seen it and is one of the most intelligent scripts I have seen for a long time.
The story follows Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) – a man more passionate about trains than people – who inherits an abandoned train depot when his train-store boss dies. He seeks solitude and hopes he will find it in Newfoundland, New Jersey, but life gets involved when he is nearly run over twice by a grieving painter and a mouthy hot dog vendor sets up his stall right outside the old train depot! So Fin, despite his own reservations becomes swept up in their lives and even finds romance with the local librarian (Michelle Williams) in turn becoming the centre of this quirky community.
This film took me completely by surprise at last year's London Film Festival; I didn't know what to expect but it ended up becoming not only one of my favourite films of the festival but one of the year. It is an amazing story of friendship, community and relationships. Dinklage is a marvel as Fin and is now being considered for a Golden Globe award and hopefully an Oscar, not just because he is a dwarf but, I hope, because his performance is astounding. He gives Fin life, in all his grumpy but centeredness and in the way he is so used to attention due to his size but manages to simply shrug it off and live with it. Patricia Clarkson who plays the painter Olivia will be known to many of you from films like The Green Mile and the recent Far From Heaven and has been dubbed the current indie film queen. She excels in her role and makes us feel with her character who is still recovering from the loss of her husband by shunning others and simply painting. Fin helps bring her out of herself and in doing so finds himself also. The same can be said for hot-dog vendor Joe, who, as business is slow, just wants to talk and make a friend. This role in the film could have been really annoying and is played by Bobby Cannavale, but Cannavale, an American TV veteran of shows like Ally McBeal and Oz manages to bring a sense of fun and humour to the part, giving the audience a light comic relief to play against Fin's dour outlook on life.
It's ultimately the relationships in this film that make it work and the brilliant script by debut writer and director Tom McCarthy, who cut his teeth acting and directing in American theatre. The dialogue bristles and sparkles and the banter between them all is excellent, showing a writer who cares for his characters. McCarthy himself said "the whole project was very personal for me and I wanted to involve the people I most respected". He shot on location in rural New Jersey not far from his childhood with his close friend, the German cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg, who brings a unique perspective to the film. In this part of the US that we don't normally see the countryside is unusual; disused railway tracks and a simple old town add to the charm of the story and help create a well-rounded believable world.
The story follows Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) – a man more passionate about trains than people – who inherits an abandoned train depot when his train-store boss dies. He seeks solitude and hopes he will find it in Newfoundland, New Jersey, but life gets involved when he is nearly run over twice by a grieving painter and a mouthy hot dog vendor sets up his stall right outside the old train depot! So Fin, despite his own reservations becomes swept up in their lives and even finds romance with the local librarian (Michelle Williams) in turn becoming the centre of this quirky community.
This film took me completely by surprise at last year's London Film Festival; I didn't know what to expect but it ended up becoming not only one of my favourite films of the festival but one of the year. It is an amazing story of friendship, community and relationships. Dinklage is a marvel as Fin and is now being considered for a Golden Globe award and hopefully an Oscar, not just because he is a dwarf but, I hope, because his performance is astounding. He gives Fin life, in all his grumpy but centeredness and in the way he is so used to attention due to his size but manages to simply shrug it off and live with it. Patricia Clarkson who plays the painter Olivia will be known to many of you from films like The Green Mile and the recent Far From Heaven and has been dubbed the current indie film queen. She excels in her role and makes us feel with her character who is still recovering from the loss of her husband by shunning others and simply painting. Fin helps bring her out of herself and in doing so finds himself also. The same can be said for hot-dog vendor Joe, who, as business is slow, just wants to talk and make a friend. This role in the film could have been really annoying and is played by Bobby Cannavale, but Cannavale, an American TV veteran of shows like Ally McBeal and Oz manages to bring a sense of fun and humour to the part, giving the audience a light comic relief to play against Fin's dour outlook on life.
It's ultimately the relationships in this film that make it work and the brilliant script by debut writer and director Tom McCarthy, who cut his teeth acting and directing in American theatre. The dialogue bristles and sparkles and the banter between them all is excellent, showing a writer who cares for his characters. McCarthy himself said "the whole project was very personal for me and I wanted to involve the people I most respected". He shot on location in rural New Jersey not far from his childhood with his close friend, the German cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg, who brings a unique perspective to the film. In this part of the US that we don't normally see the countryside is unusual; disused railway tracks and a simple old town add to the charm of the story and help create a well-rounded believable world.
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