The Station Agent
A fantastic independent film. Quoting the synopsis from Netflix:
When his only friend dies, a young dwarf named Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) relocates to an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey, intent on living the life of a hermit. But his solitude is soon interrupted by his colorful neighbors, which include a struggling artist (Patricia Clarkson) coping with the recent death of her young son and a talkative Cuban hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale).
But as weird and mundane as that sounds, it’s a spectacular character study. It’s slow moving, but not ponderously slow. It’s funny, sad, and maddening all at once. It reminds me very much of Percy Aldon’s Out of Rosenheim (a/k/a Bagdad Cafe). The same slow(ish) moving character development; long, essential quiet passages; and an indispensible music score. They both share the same basic way of introducing the characters to each other, first with guarded suspicion, then gradual acceptance, momentary trouble, then final resolution.
This is a very hard movie to describe, but I give it my highest rating. In fact, I liked it so much, I watched it again right away.
Rating: A+; would own.
December 12th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Hooray!
December 12th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
You’d like Bagdad Cafe, too. CCH Pounder is awesome in that.