Review of The Station Agent (2003) by Brandon W — 08 Apr 2016

The Station Agent is the directorial and writing debut of Tom McCarthy, who later on direct and co-write the Academy Award winner Spotlight, and it stars Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, and Patricia Clarkson in a comedy/drama about a man with dwarfism that works in a train store with his friend, until something happened to his friend, and his store is getting bought, so he lives in an abandoned train station, and meets a guy who works in his father's snack truck, and a painter.

After watching Spotlight and Win Win, I figured that I should watch his previous films like The Station Agent and The Visitor, so in further due, let's get to his first film, which is also one of the film debuts of Peter Dinklage, and this is the right movie to start with.

Everybody gave a great performance in this and was not phoning it in. I seriously didn't know where it was going, and when it keeps going, I got invested in the movie because of the characters that feel like actual people to me, thanks to the realism script by Tom McCarthy who gives out human characters with a sense of heart and dignity to them that make them feel inspired on what they are.

I haven't seen a film this human in a long time, and it's always nice to have a laid back film with some hilarious moments in it. It's interesting to see a character that has to deal with dwarfism, as I don't think I have seen a film that takes upon the issue of it, which makes me think of whether that's one of the reasons why Peter Dinklage accepted a main role like this one.

I like the conversation that the three characters have with each other, and I never thought I find trains a bit fascinating as Peter Dinklage's character is a fan of trains. The Station Agent is a very sweet film that I'm glad that I come across this movie as it has a very small budget, and it's short too, so it probably made a bit of an impact on me too.