The Station Agent

It doesn't take long in The Station Agent for us to be familiar with Finbar (Peter Dinklage) and his life. He's a dwarf who has a pleasant life working for his friend at a model train store. He's become used to the stares he receives simply for being a dwarf. When his friend dies and leaves him a plot of land in a small town, having nothing else he uproots and moves into an old train depot.

Soon he has been befriended by Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a man who is helping out his sick father and is a bit too lively for the small town. Although he can sense Finbar just wants to be left alone, its not in his nature to do so. The final major character of the film is Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a woman who lost a child some time ago and is living alone mourning.

How these three come together as friends and yet in some ways maintain their loneliness is what makes this film. Each is suffering from his/her own problems and each is not quite like the other two and yet you quickly believe in their friendships and they are not complicated by cheap expediencies like romantic involvement. Standing at the forefront of fine performances is Dinklage who is just fantastic as Finbar. Once you realize and you realize it quickly that this film is not going to take advantage of his physical characteristics, you can slip into a comfortable recognition of a guy who has faced hardships and learned to deal with it in a particular way.

In the final accounting not much happens, they all still have their problems and to some degree their loneliness but they also have each other. And that is pretty optimistic.