On DVD - The Station Agent

I had heard of this film, but I had no idea what it was about until I pulled that little sleeve out of the Netflix envelope. Had I known what was to come, I would not have waited a month to watch it.

Fin, a dwarf, inherits a station. The kind where a train station agent would live, or at least work, when the station was active. He moves into it. The movie never really explains why, but it does not really seem important. I understood him to want to get away from people; maybe he's grieving. Regardless, the station is out in the middle of nowhere, or at least that is the way it looks.

Throw in one Latin coffee vendor (out of a truck, parked next to the station, again, not explained, and thus, funny) who cannot stop talking and one lonely, bruised woman and you have got an interesting "people piece." I call it that because nothing really happens in the movie - well, of course things happen, but nothing really happens. There is no real mystery to figure out (even though things unfold), no one dies (except the throw-away character at the beginning), there is no real love story...it's just about how these three (and a few other) people interact, how the dwarf experiences life with his differences, and how he and the others realize that maybe, just maybe, having some other people around is not all that bad. Eventually they find family in each other.

It's a cute, funny, sad, and ultimately very optimistic movie with some GREAT performances.

This is a solid ****.