Station Agent - 2003 I'm a big fan of IFC - the Independent Film Channel. Sometimes you'll find a quiet little gem out there that got absolutely no commercial fanfare, yet just absolutely blew you away. An independent film can touch a smaller segment of the population - not needing to hit that mass appeal. When you are one of those touched people, you feel like the movie was made for you.
The Station Agent is about Finbar McBride, played by Peter Drinkledge. Finbar is a dwarf. He is really only interesting to other people as a curiosity. He has gone through life with an isolationist altitude. When his one friend, who shares his passion for trains dies and leaves him an abandoned train station, Finbar sees an opportunity for escape and moves in. The people he meets in the small town form the basis of the movie and change his life.
One of the people that come into his life is Joe (played by Bobby Cannavale). Joe is a relentless extrovert and so forces his way into Finbar's life. There is the lonely Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), who needs friendship yet turns from it. Together these three form an unlikely bond of friendship. As Finbar initially rejects Joe's overt attempts of friendship, we see his inner turmoil of wanting that friendship. Later when the friendships are broken, he can think of nothing else.
There is scene when the drunk Finbar, disgusted with the play of events, climbs up on the bar and shouts to the world, "Look at me. Look at the little man...". This is a brave bit of acting here. But the movie is alternately funny, sad, good-natured. It examines friendships among different people without being heavy handed.
Joe's likability and Olivia's neediness pull Finbar out of isolation and into the real world. Its a frequently funny movie and I'm trying to find a place for it in my 100 Greatest Movie List.
[update] Added to 100 greatest Movie List 11/21/2007. Removed Rainman.
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