Trainspotters have lives too (Station Agent (2003) (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	Station Agent (2003) (DVD)
Date:	30/10/05 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great characters, good cast; good, realistic story

Disadvantages: A bit slow, not action-packed

Thomas McCarthy has given us “Meet the Parents” and “The Guru” – both enjoyable movies, but his “Station Agent” is a notch up on the two of them.
It’s more of an offbeat movie, along the lines of something like “Palookaville” or “American Splendor” – it’s an affectionate portrayal of the weirder, and hence more interesting, characters. At the same time, they are quite real, and believable (unlike in “Meet the parents or “The Guru”, where we were presented with celluloid stereotypes). No this is altogether a more subtle movie from McCarthy.

The story of "The Station Agent" is set in New Jersey.
Peter Dinklage plays Finbar McBride, or Fin, as he prefers to be known. He’s a short guy, a dwarf in fact, but hates talking about it, is sick of the treatment he’s had over the years, and his solution has basically been to cut himself off from society, and wherever possible he’s on his own.
He has one passion – trains, and he reads about them, watches them, and walks along the railroads. Trainspotting has long been seen as the kind of hobby that attracts loners, so no real surprises there. Perhaps the only surprise, for me, was that it’s not just a British thing.
The ironic thing is that, although Fin thinks he’s found peace, and that he’s just a boring bloke, the people he comes across seem to want to get to know him and be friends with him. Much of the movie is about the humour of this kind of situation.

The introductory scenes where we see Finbar with his best friend Henry set the scene nicely – they don’t talk much at all, Finbar mends model trains in Henry’s shop, they both watch home movies shot by trainspotting enthusiasts, and have little get togethers with other trainspotters. There's probably millions of people like them, contentedly getting on with their lives.

Fin's life changes drastically (I won't tell you the reason why), but the long and short of it is that he goes to live in a tiny train station. It only has one room, but it's traditionally where the station agent on the line would have lived. Hence the title of the movie.
Dinklage is probably best known for his previous role in "Living in Oblivion"
There’s Joe Oramas (played by Bobby Cannavale) who works on a hotdog stand. He’s a good looking outgoing, Cuban guy, always cheerful, and loves life. The kind of guy who will play with little kids, and enjoy it just as much as they do.
There's also a young schoolgirl, another loner (played by Raven Goodwin, who played the asmathic daughter in "Lovely and Amazing").
Then there’s Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson) an artist who’s also a bit of a loner. She’s going through a divorce and mourning the death of her son. She is also a very bad driver. When we are first introduced to her she is driving so erratically she runs Fin off the road. Not the best way to meet someone for the first time...

"Station Agent" is a hard movie to classify, and I would say if you are expecting a "comedy" you might be slightly disappointed.
Yes, it has moments of humour, and also drama, romance – well it’s sort of all of these things.
The collection of oddball characters, who find comfort from each other and friendship. They are a strange bunch of people, all of them very fdifferent from one another, but having some things in common - they are all alienated in their own way, and, in varying degrees, trying to work their way out of their solitude.

The fact that watching the movie is, on balance, an uplifting experience, is down to the way that they have had to work their way through a very real and painful depression, which makes it all the more rewarding when they find contentment
And it makes you smile, gently, rather than, as you might at first expect, making you cringe.

I don't like to sound all politically correct, but it's a refreshing change to see a movie that deals with a dwarf who just happens to go about his normal life, without him being the usual butt of jokes (compare it with Will Ferrell's "Elf" or "Bad Santa" - both movies which would no doubt annoy Fin!). Yes, Fin has been targeted because he is a dwarf, but it's more important that he is a real character, living a life of his own.

88 minutes running time.

The DVD is only £7.97 on amazon.co.uk or £6.95 from dvd.co.uk

Summary: Finbar, a train-loving dwarf, has to come to terms with life changes