"The Station Agent" hooks you from the first frame with its portrait of a taciturn dwarf who wants to be left alone.
Handsome, smart, introspective and self-sufficient, the four-foot-five Finbar "Fin" McBride (Peter Dinklage, who is 34) is wary of any public environment because all the world gawks.
Many are cruel ("Hey, buddy. Where's Snow White?") or tactless, often inadvertently, like the cashier who doesn't see him.
And so he goes his own way, politely rebuffing those who elbow too close.
We meet him when he's working as a repairman at the tiny Golden Spike model-train shop in Hoboken.
A few minutes into the tight, spare, 88-minute movie, friend and shop owner Henry Styles (Paul Benjamin) dies, leaving to Fin in his will a plot of land in Newfoundland, N.J., bearing an abandoned bite-size railroad depot.
Fin walks the 34 miles (Mapquest's estimate). Its isolation suite him.
His property is invaded each day, though, by motormouthed Joe Oramos (Bobby Cannavale), who subs for an ailing father in manning a hot-dogs-and-coffee trailer. Joe is much too gregarious and hungry for friendship to pay much mind to Fin's understated snubs.
Joe uses a cell phone as if it were a fix. It's unbearable for him to be alone and quiet; having a listener validates him.
The accident-prone amateur painter Olivia (Patricia Clarkson) barges in, too. Fighting off depression from a son's accidental death and her marital estrangement, she and the lonely men form a surrogate family. Note the many shots of the parallel tracks Fin walks.
Fin is relatively accepting of Cleo (Raven Goodwin), a plump black girl whose questions carry no menace. It may help that she's cautious of him.
And there's the pretty librarian Emily (Michelle Williams), who imposes a little.
When Fin, in a rare exhibitionist moment, drinks himself into a rage and bellows in a crowded bar, "Here I am. Take a look," he's exorcising nothing, but he's baring the depth of lifelong hurt.
A small, independent film in the richest sense, "The Station Agent" was written and directed by Tom McCarthy with great regard for Fin and others who carry around in them pain and humor that few people bother to explore.
Clarkson won an award at the Sundance Film Festival, as did McCarthy's screenplay and the picture as best drama.
As the architect of his work, McCarthy knew better than anyone which grace notes he hoped to achieve in his casting.
He could not possibly have found a better Fin than Dinklage, who has been appearing in a workshop of the play "Toulouse" (as in -Lautrec) and who has the charisma to play the part in a film.
A scene in which he appears in a classroom, stiffly delivering his woodenly written notes from file cards, could not seem more accurate.
McCarthy's odd choice is Cannavale, another immensely engaging performer. Were the part cast with a plainer, ideally an unattractive, actor, it would make more sense that Joe seems to have no friends of his own.
These folks make such good companions, you have to be pleased they found each other. How rare to feel you'd like to join them, after the conclusion, on Olivia's veranda.
Additional Information:
Details
'The Station Agent'Director: Tom McCarthy.
Stars: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale.
MPAA rating: R, for language and some drug content.
Now playing: TBA
