The Station Agent

A while back we watched the Thomas McCarthy movie Win/Win and enjoyed it immensely. In learning about McCarthy we learned about this film, an earlier effort of his, that as his first movie was received very well by the critics.

All of the positive reviews of The Station Agent prove to be nothing more than absolutely correct. This is a fantastic movie. Small in scope but with a quietness that belies how much impact it can have on a person.

Peter Dinklage plays Finbar McBride. Dinklage, for those who do not recognize the name is a little person. After performances in Elf and over the last couple of years with a major role in Game of Thrones Dinklage now has reached such stature that he is now an actor who happens to be a little person rather than a little person who is an actor. He is a brilliant actor.

In the movie Fin is a reclusive, hermit like man who works at a hobby shop. With a love of trains his life is made up of his relationship with his tactiturn friend and boss and a train aficionado group to which he belongs.

His life is changed when his friend dies, and the hobby shop closes. Fin is left however, as an inheritance a small piece of land with an old train depot on it. With no other opportunities seeking solitude Fin moves to Newfoundland, New Jersey to take up residence.

Seeking to be alone he soon finds himself immersed in the lives of Joe, a Cuban American man running a snack track while his father recovers from illness, and Olivia a woman separated from her husband after the sudden death of her child. Throw in a little African American girl who shares Fin's loves of trains, and Michelle Williams as the town librarian who has a problem she has to deal with and you have some acting performances that are not to be forgotten.

Nothing is forced in this movie, it comes at its own pace. Patricia Clarkson as the grieving mother Olivia offers a performance that you can feel the pain dripping from. In watching the movie and seeing the unlikely friendship develop between Joe, the fast talking, always upbeat and chatty, Cuban American, Olivia, the distraught mother, and Finn, the quiet lonely man who just happens to be a dwarf, I told my wife this movie might illustrate better than any I have ever seen how many lonely people there are in this world, that on some level each of us is hurting or hurt.

I cannot reccomend this movie highly enough.

Win Win

My wife's sister saw this movie at the theater when it was released. I have heard much good buzz about it and when my wife got it from RedBox we were looking forward to it.

Writer/Director Thomas McCarthy who is gaining traction as a great writer with an interesting slant on films jumps up a notch with this film. One expects that soon he will have a major, breakout, Oscar worthy film.

The cast in this movie is strong. Paul Giametti who might be one of our best actors stars as Mike Flaherty a New Jersey lawyer who is struggling to get enough cases to make ends meet. He also is a volunteer wrestling coach at the local high school. Needless to say the team is not successful and Flaherty is being beaten down by the world.

Having been hired pro bono to help an elderly man who, while wealthy, has no family to take care of him. Mike notices that whosoever does become his guardian gets paid a fifteen hundred dollar a month commission. Mike lobbies for the job and then unethically puts him in a home rather than keep him in his house.

Eventually this leads him to a young high school student named Kyle played by Alex Shaffer who is his new ward's grandson. Kyle is an excellent wrestler so you can see where that goes.

This movie is better than a description makes it sound. The characters are real and deep and flawed. This movie is wonderful.

Of special note is the performance by Burt Young as the elderly man who becomes Mike's ward. Any of us who grew up in the seventies cannot forget Burt Young from the Rocky movies. He is wonderful in this role.

Great movie