the station agent (2003)
			director:  thomas mccarthy peter dinklage, patricia clarkson bobby cannavale, michelle williams paul benjamin unfashionable observations rating: A-				The Station Agent is a subtle, understated comedy that succeeds on account of what it doesn’t say.  There is a well-known proposition out there that says that “life is funny.”  Most comedies that attempt to channel this do so through witty dialogue, or humorous characters.  The Station Agent is not one of those films.  Rather, it achieves its laughs through a simple shutting of a door, or a nonchalant “No.”  The Station Agent teaches us that sometimes, life is funny on its own terms. Finbar McBride (Dinklage) is a man born with dwarfism who is desperately trying to shape the contours of his own existence.  Looking to escape from the world that spurns him as an oddity, he takes up residence in an abandoned train depot in rural New Jersey.  As if to prove that life won’t yield for anyone, Finbar unwittingly becomes enmeshed in the lives of his neighbors Olivia (Clarkson), a forty-year-old artist struggling with the death of her son, and Joe (Cannavale), a thirty-year-old hot-dog vendor with a talent for cooking and endless conversation. The most notable aspect of the film is Peter Dinklage’s perfectly restrained performance as the dwarf who has to suffer unwanted attention on a daily basis on account of his physical appearance.  Truly, a lead actor has rarely had as few lines as Dinklage in this movie.  Most of his acting involves grunts, nods, and grimaces.  And rightly so, for we get the sense that Finbar McBride is on a quest to minimize his life as much as possible without killing himself.  Ironically, his small stature has given him a life too big for his own personal taste—one that obnoxiously continues to give him as much attention as possible in any social venture.  In a tragi-comic scene that won’t be easily forgotten, Fin goes the local grocery store to purchase some miscellaneous food items.  As he walks in, the clerk’s eyes immediately focus upon the little man, following Fin’s stride like a stargazer following a comet’s tail.  As we watch Fin take a quart of milk out of the store’s display fridge, we hear a voice from behind yelp, “Yoo-hoo!”  We turn our sight along with Fin, and are instantly blinded by the flash of the clerk’s cheap camera.  The clerk chuckles; Fin shrugs quietly, as if nothing happened.  We realize that Fin does not have a choice.  He cannot do anything, for like it or not, this is the life of Finbar McBride. In addition to Dinklage’s superb stint as Fin, the film contains a rather inspired performance by Bobby Cannavale, Fin’s chatty daytime neighbor.  Cannavale’s character—Joe—is aptly obnoxious in his insistence that he and Fin talk and hang out at all times.  Serving as Fin’s foil, Joe is so starved for attention that they manage to find a curious equilibrium between themselves.  Comically, Joe is able to live vicariously through Fin’s surplus attention.  But also, Fin is able to open himself up to Joe because Joe gives him the kind of attention that Fin does not have—namely, the attention one gets from a friend, and not an onlooker. The Station Agent is a sweet little movie that stays with you long after the viewing experience.  It is a genuine, unpretentious take on the relationships one happens to make in the course of everyday living, and the events—both funny and tragic—that unwittingly give those relationships meaning.  I’d give Thomas McCarthy’s The Station Agent an A-.
	Unfashionable Observations by Xavier Morales © 2004