juneebuggy
I've seen this a couple times now, just an excellent movie. A character study following an anti social little person with a thing for trains who inherits an abandoned train depot. Peter Dinklage (is brilliant) as Fin, moves to rural New Jersey hoping to spend his days in solitude, instead he is drawn out of his shell after becoming entangled with an overly friendly Cuban food truck vendor, played brilliantly by Bobby Cannavale and an artist (Patricia Clarkson) struggling with the death of her son. This is one of those movies where you become so involved in the characters lives, the ups and downs that you don't want the movie to end. All the main characters here are fantastic with perfect chemistry. Three broken, lonely people better together. Joe Cannavale is ultra likable, contagious in his enthusiasm.Definitely worth checking out.
whatswritten
Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, and Bobby Cannavale at their best. A nice quaint story about a man (Dinklakge) that wants to be left alone yet the people (Clarkson and Cannavale) push him beyond his limits. Even Michelle Williams who plays a librarian gave a delightful performance. I find that films these days don't like to keep the viewer at ease during act 2, but I felt it was a nice change to have this warm effect this movie gives off when watching the three main characters (plus Williams and Raven Goodwin). I did not know what to expect going into it, yet I felt it was heartwarming. So if you are looking for a nice, feel good movie that is also unique, check it out. Good flick!
SnoopyStyle
Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) works in a Hoboken hobby train shop with his friend Henry. When Henry dies suddenly, the shop is sold and Henry leaves him an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey. He moves into the station to be alone. He is reluctantly pulled into the lives of talkative Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale) who is working his father's food truck and Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson) who almost runs him over, twice. She is separated from her husband and still struggling with her son's death from two years ago. He is also befriended by young black girl Cleo and librarian Emily (Michelle Williams).It is a nice easy indie of these disparate characters coming together. It's probably the first staring role I saw with Dinklage. It's a quiet performance. Cannavale is his opposite. Clarkson is a little goofy at first but turns into a very compelling character. Williams is the young ingénue. The plot needs a more interesting narrative. There are no real stakes other than personal growth. I like these characters but there is no intensity.
sddavis63
Peter Dinklage is a very familiar face. Anyone who watches movies has seen him. Whenever Hollywood needs a "little person" to fill a role, he's the obvious choice. He's a good actor. Because of his size, though, his roles tend to be somewhat limited, and most of the movies I've seen him in have him playing a secondary character whose purpose seems to be to add a bit of a comedic note that revolves around his short stature. As an example, I think of his turn as children's author Miles Finch in "Elf" - where what I remember him for mostly is his very funny confrontation with Will Ferrell's Buddy the Elf. So, generally (and perhaps inevitably) his stature becomes something to laugh at - not in an offensive way, but because it becomes the focal point of usually very funny scenes. One reason I liked "The Station Agent" though was that it gave Dinklage a meatier role. His stature is still front and centre (how could it not be) but it isn't really what the movie is about. The movie is about friendship and trust - and instead of playing a secondary character, Dinklage is clearly the star of this movie, and demonstrates his talent, showing that he can carry a movie , doing more than just filling a niche.His character in this is Finbar McBride. Fin's life revolves apparently around one friend and one interest. His friend is Henry, and his interest is trains. Henry owns a store devoted to train memorabilia, but dies early in the movie, leaving Fin alone and with nothing - except for a rundown old train station that Henry left him in his will. Travelling to Newfoundland, New Jersey, Fin takes up residence in the station and seems quite prepared to live as a hermit.You feel a certain sympathy for Fin at this point. Clearly there are major trust issues. In your mind, you start to create a backstory for him. I would expect that he had dealt with a lifetime of ridicule and being made fun of, and now the only person who had ever accepted him and the only person he had ever really trusted (Henry) was gone. Why not become a recluse? Why not just say "screw the world," take up residence in the station and ignore everyone and everything- except the trains that he's so taken with? That would be tempting. If I were in Fin's shoes I might well make that choice as well.But being a recluse isn't easy. Inevitably, people appear. It starts with Joe (Bobby Cannavale), who operates a food truck and sets up business right outside the abandoned station every morning. Then there's Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), who almost runs him down (twice!) - a separated woman with a tragic history revolving around the death of her young son. There's Cleo (Raven Goodwin), a young girl who's a bit overweight and finds Fin intriguing, and there's Emily (Michelle Williams), the local librarian who's pregnant and in an apparently abusive relationship. Those four characters (mostly the first two) become the circle around Fin. All start off intrigued by Fin - but not only by his size. In this sense, the movie isn't stereotypical in its presentation of dwarfism. They're also intrigued by Fin the person - the station he lives in, his interest in trains. Those characters and their reaction to and interest in Fin allow Dinklage to play a very serious role. It's not without humour, but the humour isn't at his expense, or at the expense of dwarfism. It's just a natural humour that arises from the situations he finds himself in - and, humour aside, the movie isn't a comedy. It's a very serious portrayal of the struggles someone like Fin might have in bonding with people, developing trust and making friendships. It's not an exciting movie, nor is it an action movie. In some ways it's a rather slow, meandering story that doesn't lead up to any one particularly great climax - but it's interesting all the way through and satisfying in the end. Well done by all involved.I want to give mention to director Thomas McCarthy for some extremely good camera work in this - which does, in fact, focus on Dinklage and his size - but in a definitely respectful way that added to the story. McCarthy manages to shoot some scenes in a way that make Dinklage look even smaller than he is - you get a sort of "one little man against a big world" sense from those scenes that's very appropriate to the story. Then there are other scenes which are filmed in a way that you don't even notice that Fin is small. He just fits in with the rest of the characters and you don't pay attention to his size - again appropriate to those points in the story where this is done, as Fin becomes not "one little man" but just "a man" who has to deal with life as it comes at him - and sometimes as it comes at those he has chosen to befriend. Overall, a very well done movie. (8/10)
