The Station Agent is like a spontaneous road trip to the beach. You're not quite sure what'll happen next, but you're sure glad you went along for the ride.
Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, Agent tells the story of blue-eyed, deep-voiced Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage), a train enthusiast and ruggedly handsome loner. Fin moves into an abandoned train depot in tiny Newfoundland, NJ, resigned to solitude by a society he thinks will never welcome him.
It should be beside the point to mention that Fin is a dwarf, but it's too significant to ignore. His height is the first thing we notice, and it's impossible to forget. Fin's hardened cynicism and resigned acceptance of solitude aren't unjustified--after a lifetime of finger pointing, smothered giggles and Snow White jokes, what else should he expect?
Fin refuses to believe that anyone would ever want to befriend him without ulterior motives, but he underestimates small town hospitality. Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a grieving artist, and Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a lonesome hot dog vendor, soon change his mind. Fin is weary from the start, but Olivia and Joe's inexplicable cheer and pure joy for life win him over. They become an inseparable triumvirate bound by newfound friendship, reaching a level of contentment we hope they rarely fall below and consistently rise above. It's glorious to see Fin's dour facade dissolve in the face of genuine friendship, and when Fin first smiles, we can't help but smile back.
At times exhilarating and at other times terribly depressing, this Sundance Festival award-winning film is a movie impossible to dislike, because we can see ourselves in each character's search for happiness. This film makes you remember all the small, unremarkable joys of life that ultimately come together to create contentment: summer days spent at the lake, shooting the breeze with good friends, dangling your feet into the water off the side of a dock or walking the "right of way" on train tracks, jumping from one railroad tie to the next.
This is the triumph of the movie--Fin could be anyone. He's just an ordinary guy, a boat beating against the current, struggling to forge a happy life from what he has been allotted.
The Station Agent will be opening in theaters Nov. 14.
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