The Station Agent (DVD)

...in their emotional depth and the humour that lightens them. Where fully rounded performances make us understand something important. In the case of The Station Agent it is that even if people don't think they need friendships, they really do. Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) works in his only friend's model train shop in Manhattan. The two share silences as Fin tends to the models and Henry Style's to the shop front. One day his friend literally drops ...
..."the right of way" (walking the railway tracks) to his new found home where he hopes to pursue his interest in trains. There he wishes to live his life in solitude, but is forcibly befriended by the lonely and extroverted Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale) who runs a hot-dog van from the area outside the Station Depot. Despite his best wishes Bobby has been unable to make friends with the reclusive painter, Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson). It is only ...

ickkate 04.04.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

The Station Agent is an extraordinary film for a number of reasons. The first is that it is stunningly simple in story and script and yet intriguingly complex in theme and emotional resonance. The second is that it has a strong social conscience without a hint of condescension. The third is that it is funny, touching, sweet, lyrical and beautifully paced, which is sadly not something we see every day. This tiny crystalline gem of a movie took the ...
...reason to praise it to the skies. The Film Stuff: Finbar McBride - PETER DINKLAGE Olivia Harris - PATRICIA CLARKSON Joe Oramas - BOBBY CANNAVALE Cleo - RAVEN GOODWIN Emily - MICHELLE WILLIAMS Written and Directed by THOMAS McCARTHY in his directorial debut. 88 mins Certificate 15 Fin lives a deliberately unassuming life, worn down with the constant stares and comments he attracts as a 4 and a half foot dwarf. He has a passion for trains, ...

ruth_cole 11.04.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...Why, and what do the film-makers think of that? Let's find out. (Although for obvious reasons the second half of that question is impossible to answer.) The Station Agent is one of those films that emerge from America every now and again - with the production values that suggest it's not a budget indie, and with the artistry and sensibility that Hollywood can never match. People still respond to such films with much delight and surprise, and when ...
...right to do so. The Prof, as Finbar McBride is known, works at a very quiet little model railway shop. Custom is slow, but on track. However his aging black colleague/boss derails things by collapsing dead on the store floor. This causes that dumbass, wide-mouthed one from Spin City to have a cameo as a solicitor, who explains the shop has six weeks left before liquidation, and that Fin has inherited a station depot in the middle of nowhere. Fin ...

theediscerning 05.09.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

Released in the UK in 2004 The Station Agent met worldwide with much acclaim, but talk to someone about it and it's a strange movie that seemingly has little purpose, everyone seems to love it but nobody really knows why. Finbar Mcbride (Peter Dinklage) is a midget; his life is spent painting and repairing model train carriages in his friends Henry's shop. His height causes ongoing problems abused daily by kids, and stared at by passersby. When ...
...off to Newfoundland lured by the promise of Henry's lawyer that Newfoundland is dead where nothing at all goes on. Fin's dream of an isolated life is soon bought to a halt when he makes the acquaintance of Joe, Olivia, Cleo and Emily. The Station Agent is one of those movies that is like a mirror to real life, for the average person life is essentially dull with the odd highlights. It's those highlights, often unexpected that are the essence of ...

sghawken 08.06.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...has to be one of the finest films I've seen. Ever. Thanks to BBC 2 for showing it! A quick precis of the story ---------------------------------- Soon after we meet him, the main character, Finbar inherits a property in a small rural town - it's an old station house right next to the railway tracks. As a complete train-buff, Fin moves to his new place to wallow in the quiet life with just the trains and himself for company ... until he encounters ...
...new-found acquaintances but before long the barriers start to drop. The tagline of the film 'Loneliness is much better when you have got someone to share it with' gives a pretty good idea of the nature of the film - a range of personal journeys that are an absolute joy to watch. The main characters ----------------------------- Finbar McBride Born with dwarfism, Fin has lived a lonely life and moves to rural New Jersey to escape from the finger-pointing ...

kpbunches 27.05.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...to cut himself off from the name-calling and ridicule he is subjected to on a daily basis. There’s just one problem. After moving to Newfoundland he can’t help but draw people to him; whether it is the ebullient but lonely Joe who runs the coffee stand outside the depot, recently divorced and bereaved artist Olivia or similarly train-obsessed schoolgirl Cleo. There’s just something about him… It seems strange that this film is directed by Thomas ...
...and the big box-office “Meet the Parents” as an actor. As with most first-time directors he has started off with personal indie film. And if this is the sort of thing he comes up with when he’s allowed to play on his own, then more power to his elbow. He has fashioned a truly moving paean to the importance of friendship in shaping who we are. As screenwriter, he has created a series of sympathetic characters that induce pathos rather than pity and ...

afy9mab 06.05.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

As the solicitor dealing with his boss's estate says, "It's pretty remote. There's nothing there. Nothing.". This is what persuades Fin McBride to move to Newfoundland, in New Jersey, having just inherited an old railway depot there. Fin, played by Peter Dinklage, is an avid train spotter who prefers his own company to that of others, and when his boss Henry, another train enthusiast who owns The Golden Spike train shop in Hoboken, New Jersey dies ...
...in rural New Jersey in the will. The film portrays his life so far as having been pretty uneventful. The rub is that Fin has dwarfism and at the start of the film, we see him going about his daily life, with cruel jibes from local children asking him where Snow White is, and being ignored by supermarket cashiers because they can't see him over the counter. So he moves into the depot in the rural New Jersey, probably thinking he can put all that behind ...

kevin121 22.12.2008 (04.01.2009) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...a model railway shop all the more satisfying for Fin as he is able to ignore the outside world and focus on his passion with like-minded friends and enthusiasts. This was until his boss received a call from the big signal-box in the sky and left Fin with no work, no roof over his head and most distressingly alone. You see Fin McBride is a dwarf (his words not mine) and his introverted world allows him to escape from the cowardice and abuse that ...
...to be more fortunate. The saviour for Fin here is the last will and testament that leaves him a property in Newfoundland, a distant rural district far away from the bright lights and big city. So bags packed and off we go. The Station agent was the man who kept the the railways on track. His office by the platform was where he ate, slept and spent most of his lifetime. He sold tickets, distributed mail and even offered haircuts! In a town such ...

REDF 18.03.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...is very slow paced, once the death of Fins friend occurs and he travels to the depot, the plot seems to slow down alot, though the introduction of the two other characters helps it along but it seemed to be without real direction during what I'd say is the middle of the movie. I didn't feel all that interested in the main character either, which didn't help, yes he's somewhat of a recluse and we should feel sorry for him I suppose, which I did to ...
...up a bit more. The movie is quite deep if you think about the issues it tries to deal with but then that makes for not much of a comedy movie and yes it is again a movie classified as a comedy when its more a 'make you think' type movie, where your given an insight into how people treat dwarfs such as Fin and it tackles the issues of loneliness and companionship. The movie is quite poignant I suppose, I think that you could get into it but it drags ...

IzzyS 26.04.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...down an unfamiliar path. The main character is vertically challenged (to use a horrible politically correct term), in other words he just isn't very tall, in fact he is tiny, and feels tiny and out of place in our "ordinary" world. When his fellow train enthusiast and co-worker dies he is left a surprising inheritance, a disused railway station in indolent New Jersey which becomes his home and the unlikely setting for a deceptively simple tale of ...
...the one thing that gives them meaning and fulfilment is the surprise of each other's friendship. This film is so brilliant because it is so random. A little man in an old shack and a full-of-himself refreshment stand attendant start up an unlikely friendship. Why the stall is outside a disused railway shack and hardly ever seems to serve any customers is never made clear. Besides the lack of business allows them to chase trains, walk the old rights ...

shyscotsgeek25 03.03.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

...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 ...
...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 ...

rsmith 31.10.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)

This film shows the viewer how society has affected Finbar McBride, a dwarf. He wants to be left alone. But a persistent coffee seller and divorcee provide a number of funny moments as they try to become his friends. Well worth watching. ...

ed321 01.06.2007
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of The Station Agent (DVD)