The Station Agent
Encyclopedia
The Station Agent is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy (actor)
Thomas Joseph McCarthy is an American actor, writer, and film director who has appeared in several movies, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television shows such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe...

. McCarthy's script about a man who seeks solitude in an abandoned train station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

 in Newfoundland, New Jersey
Newfoundland, New Jersey
Newfoundland is an unincorporated area in West Milford, New Jersey, Jefferson Township, and Rockaway Township. It is located along the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway tracks and Route 23. It is the mailing address of Green Pond, a private lake that is in Rockaway Township. Newfoundland...

 won him the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers.-1990s:1994*David O...

.

Plot

Finbar McBride, a quiet, withdrawn, unmarried man with achondroplastic dwarfism
Achondroplasia
Achondroplasia dwarfism occurs as a sporadic mutation in approximately 85% of cases or may be inherited in an autosomal dominant genetic disorder that is a common cause of dwarfism...

, has a deep love of everything related to railroads. He works in a Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...

 model train hobby
Rail transport modelling
Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale...

 shop owned by his elderly and similarly taciturn friend Henry Styles. Because he feels ostracized by a public that tends to make fun of his size, Fin keeps to himself.

When Henry dies unexpectedly, Fin is told that the hobby shop is to be closed forever. However, he also learns that Henry's will left him a piece of rural property with an abandoned train depot on it. He moves into the old building hoping for a life of solitude, but he quickly finds himself reluctantly becoming enmeshed in the lives of his neighbors. Joe Oramas, a Cuban American
Cuban American
A Cuban American is a United States citizen who traces his or her "national origin" to Cuba. Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US...

, is operating his father's roadside snack truck while the elder man recovers from an illness, and Olivia Harris is an artist trying to cope with the sudden death of her young son two years earlier and the ramifications it has had on her marriage to David, from whom she is separated. Cleo is a young African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 girl who shares Fin's interest in trains and finally convinces him to lecture her class about them. Emily is the local librarian, a young woman dismayed to discover she is pregnant by her ne'er-do-well boyfriend.

Joe, relentlessly upbeat and overly talkative, soon cracks through Fin's reserve. The two begin to take daily walks along the tracks, and when Olivia gives Fin a movie camera to film the passing trains, Joe pursues them in his truck while Fin photographs them. Joe and Fin sleep over at Olivia's house after watching this footage and the next morning a flustered, unannounced David is greeted by the two of them. The three forge a tentative friendship that is threatened when Olivia descends into a deep depression. Meanwhile, Emily seeks solace from Fin, who slowly is realizing interaction with other humans may not be as unpleasant as he thought. Fin tries to protect Emily from her boyfriend at a bar, but he pushes Fin aside, causing Fin to lapse back into his antisocial behaviour. Fin spends the night drinking and, collapsing on the track, is passed over by a train, undamaged but for his pocket watch. As if feeling blessed by his gift of life (and symbolically upon his watch getting destroyed in the train mishap), Fin picks up the courage to talk to school kids about trains. Later Fin even walks up to Olivia's home (in spite of being humiliated the previous time) only to find she had attempted suicide. He takes care of her home while she recuperates in hospital. The last scene has Olivia, Joe, and Fin all watch the film of their trainspotting at Olivia's house, closing the movie with their small talk and reconciliation.

Production

According to screenwriter/director Thomas McCarthy's commentary on the DVD release of the film, it was shot on a shoestring budget in a limited amount of time. Locations used included Lake Hopatcong, Dover
Dover, New Jersey
Dover is a town in Morris County, New Jersey on the Rockaway River. Dover is west of New York City and west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the United States Census, 2000, the town's population was 18,188.-Geography:...

, Hibernia
Hibernia, New Jersey
Hibernia is an unincorporated area within Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 07842....

, Rockaway
Rockaway, New Jersey
Rockaway is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 6,438.Rockaway was formed as a borough on June 19, 1894, from portions of Rockaway Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous...

, Hoboken, and Newfoundland in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 and Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...

.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

 and the San Sebastián Film Festival before going into limited release in the US on October 3, 2003. Playing on three screens, it grossed $57,785 on its opening weekend. The film eventually earned $8,679,814, of which $5,739,376 was from the USA.

Cast

  • Peter Dinklage
    Peter Dinklage
    Peter Dinklage is an American film, television and theater actor. Since his breakout role in the 2003 film The Station Agent, he has acted in Elf, Underdog, Find Me Guilty, the 2007 film Death at a Funeral and its 2010 remake, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian...

     as Finbar McBride
  • Bobby Cannavale
    Bobby Cannavale
    Robert M. "Bobby" Cannavale is an American actor known for his leading role as Bobby Caffey in the first two seasons of the television series Third Watch. He also had a recurring role as Officer Vince D'Angelo on the comedy series Will & Grace.-Early life:Cannavale grew up in Union City, New...

     as Joe Oramas
  • Patricia Clarkson
    Patricia Clarkson
    Patricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...

     as Olivia Harris
  • Raven Goodwin as Cleo
  • Paul Benjamin
    Paul Benjamin
    Paul Benjamin is an American actor.Benjamin was born in Pelion, South Carolina. He made his film debut in 1969 as a bartender in Midnight Cowboy...

     as Henry Styles
  • Michelle Williams
    Michelle Williams (actress)
    Michelle Ingrid Williams is an American actress. After starting her career with television guest appearances in the early 1990s, Williams achieved recognition for her role as Jen Lindley on the WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek, which she played from 1998 to 2003...

     as Emily
  • Richard Kind
    Richard Kind
    Richard John Kind is an American actor known for his roles in the sitcoms Mad About You and Spin City .- Early life :...

     as Louis Tiboni
  • Josh Pais
    Josh Pais
    Josh Pais is an American actor of film and television.He has appeared in many Hollywood films, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Raphael, Music of the Heart, Scream 3, It Runs in the Family, Little Manhattan and Find Me Guilty. He played Assistant M.E...

     as Carl
  • Joe Lo Truglio
    Joe Lo Truglio
    Joseph "Joe" Lo Truglio is an American actor, writer and comedian best known for his work as a cast member on the cult MTV sketch comedy series The State...

     as Danny
  • John Slattery
    John Slattery
    John M. Slattery, Jr. is an American actor and director, best known for his role as Roger Sterling on AMC's series Mad Men. He has been nominated for many awards, and has won two SAG Awards with the Mad Men ensemble....

     as David
  • Jayce Bartok
    Jayce Bartok
    Jayce Bartok is an American actor. A young leading man with TV and film experience, Bartok had his best chance to date as Pony, the rock star who returns to his home town where his pals are waiting in Richard Linklater's subUrbia . He wrote, directed and produced the short film Stricken in 2005...

     as Chris

Critical reception

The film received a very positive response from critics. Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell is an American film critic, host of the public radio show The Treatment, and visiting lecturer at Harvard University. He has served as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the LA Weekly, The Detroit Free Press, and The New York Times...

 of the New York Times observed, "Tom McCarthy has such an appreciation for quiet that it occupies the same space as a character in this film, a delicate, thoughtful and often hilarious take on loneliness . . . it's the kind of appetizing movie you want to share with others."

Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

said, "[T]his is a comedy, but it's also sad, and finally it's simply a story about trying to figure out what you love to do and then trying to figure out how to do it . . . It is a great relief . . . that The Station Agent is not one of those movies in which the problem is that the characters have not slept with each other and the solution is that they do. It's more about the enormous unrealized fears and angers that throb beneath the surfaces of their lives."

Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

called it "as touching and original a movie as you're likely to see this year" and "a remarkably assured first film."

Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...

 of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

said, "Tom McCarthy has a gift for funny and touching nuances . . . The three actors could not be better. Huge feelings are packed into this small, fragile movie. It's something special."

James Christopher of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

stated, "The brilliance of Peter Dinklage's performance as the ironclad loner is that he doesn’t much care. Yet there’s something deeply affecting about his stoicism and suspicion that has nothing to do with artificial sweeteners, Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 sentiment, or party political broadcasts on behalf of dwarfs. Dinklage just gets on with his performance like an actor who can't understand why he's got the lead role. It's this tension between the film and the unwilling Romeo that makes The Station Agent such a hypnotic watch."

Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 gives the film a 95 percent Fresh rating on the Tomatometer and a 90 percent Liked It audience rating.

Awards and nominations

  • BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
    BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
    The BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay is the British Academy Film Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. It has been awarded since 1984, when the original category was split into two awards, the other being the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted...

     (winner)
  • Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
    -1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer
    Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2003
    The 16th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2003, were presented in 2004. The awards were originally going to be cancelled because the 2003 screener ban but when a judge ruled against it and the studios started to send out screeners again the awards were held...

     (Peter Dinklage, nominee)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast
    Chlotrudis Awards 2004
    The 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 28, 2004, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

     (winner)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
    Chlotrudis Awards 2004
    The 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 28, 2004, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

     (Bobby Cannavale, winner)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Chlotrudis Awards 2004
    The 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 28, 2004, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
    Chlotrudis Awards 2004
    The 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 28, 2004, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

     (Peter Dinklage, nominee)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Film
    Chlotrudis Awards 2004
    The 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 28, 2004, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

     (nominee)
  • Chlotrudis Award for Best Original Screenplay
    Chlotrudis Awards 2004
    The 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards were presented March 28, 2004, by the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Honoring the best of the past year's independent, documentary and international film, the awards ceremony took place at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

     (nominee)
  • Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    The Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the Florida Film Critics Circle to honor the finest supporting female acting achievementes in filmmaking.- 1990s :-2000s:-2010s:...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
    Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay
    The Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay is one of the annual awards given by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers.-1990s:1994*David O...

     (winner)
  • Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award
    Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award
    The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers...

     (winner)
  • Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Male (Peter Dinklage, nominee)
  • Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
    Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 2003
    The 38th Loutzenhiser Awards, honoring the best in film for 2003, were given on 4 January 2004 at the McCoy's Public House in Westport, Missouri-Winners:*Best Actor:**Sean Penn - Mystic River*Best Actress:...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay
    Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards 2003
    The 7th Las Vegas Film Critics Society "Sierra" Awards, honoring the best in film 2003, were given on 6 January 2004.-Winners:*Best Actor:**Sean Penn – Mystic River*Best Actress:**Charlize Theron – Monster*Best Animated Feature:...

     (winner)
  • National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
    National Board of Review Awards 2003
    The 75th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2003, were given on 3 December 2003.-Top 10 films:#Mystic River#The Last Samurai#The Station Agent#21 Grams#House of Sand and Fog#Lost in Translation...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
    National Society of Film Critics Awards 2003
    The 38th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 3 January 2004, honored the best filmmaking of 2003.-Best Picture::1. American Splendor2. Mystic River3. Lost in Translation-Best Director::...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay
    Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay
    The Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay is an annual award given by the International Press Academy.- 1990s :*1996: Lone Star*1996: The People vs...

     (nominee)
  • Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (nominee)
  • Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Peter Dinklage, nominee)
  • Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Patricia Clarkson, nominee)
  • Sundance Film Festival Audience Award (Dramatic) (winner)
  • Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize
    Sundance Film Festival
    The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

     (Patricia Clarkson, winner)
  • Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt
    Waldo Salt
    Waldo Miller Salt was an American screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism.-Early life and career:...

     Screenwriting Award (winner)
  • Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
    Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay
    The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America Award....

     (nominee)

Location

The abandoned train station is located on the active New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also known as the Susie-Q, or simply the Susquehanna, is a Class II American freight railway operating over 500 miles of track in the northeastern states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was formed in 1881 from the merger of several...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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