The Station Agent

Thomas McCarthy, USA, 2004, 88 minutes

"I vant to be alone", Greta Garbo infamously declared in Grand Hotel. It's a phrase that could be Finbar's mantra. His one friend and companion in the world dies very suddenly. In his will he has left Finbar a deserted station house in rural New Jersey so he ups and moves there preparing for a life of quiet controlled solitude.

Finbar, you see, is a little bit different; he's new in town; he's living in that weird old building; he doesn't make chat with the neighbours; he wants to be left alone, he's a dwarf and he's a trainspotter. Yes, you heard it, a trainspotter.

Now the problem is Finbar (Peter Dinklage) has come to a part of rural New Jersey where very little happens so the locals aren't about to leave him be and he soon finds himself the reluctant friend of Joe (Bobby Cannavale), an enthusiastic hot dog and coffee seller, and grieving artist Olivia (Patricia Clarkson). And so wends an incredibly warm, charming and surprisingly low saccharine movie.

Dinklage is startlingly good and complex as Finbar allowing us to empathise but also frequently dislike some of his personal quirks saving us from that horrible feeling of pity that can leak into any film about an exceptionally different person. Clarkson delivers another in a career of strong emotionally true characters as Olivia's secrets are slowly unravelled.

Small in budget, small on celebrity turns but big on quiet believable people this is an absolute gem of a movie. It won't change your life but it might make you feel better about it.

Review by Nicola Osborne
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2005