Premise: A man with dwarfism escapes to an abandoned train station a friend left him in Newfoundland, New Jersey, hoping for solitude and finding unlikely friends instead.
The formula for a good Sundance movie is chaotic. It's similar to cooking a meal by adding more ingredients until it finally works. It's hard for me to think of a great Sundance movie in which I believe the filmmaker had a clear vision right away. Normally, it's a simple story that they keep adding details to until it's something unique. Coda, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, The Wackness, happythankyoumoreplease, and Little Miss Sunshine all match this description and won the Audience award at Sundance. The Station Agent very much follows this formula.
Broadly speaking, it's about a man who feels rejected by society finding a new home in an unexpected place. The reason why he feels rejected? He has dwarfism. Luckily, there's the great Peter Dinklage waiting for a role like this. The man who breaks down his defenses? He's an overly friendly guy (Bobby Cannavale) who...owns a food truck. He takes care of his sick father too. There's a woman in the friend group too (Patricia Clarkson). They meet after she nearly runs Dinklage over...twice. Well, the two guys are a little broken. What's her damage? A dead kid. Oh, and Dinklage needs 'a thing'. Something he can enjoy to counterbalance his sour demeanor. Trains. He like trains a lot. And there's a kid who randomly like trains too. And a librarian (Michelle Williams) as a pseudo love interest. The details keep stacking and stacking until they have this charming little 90-minute movie that's about a dozen small things rather than one big thing.
It's fair to come out of The Station Agent wondering what it was really about. The best I could do is call it a movie about friendship or finding your tribe. That doesn't fully capture it. It's about second chances. It's about making the best out of the hand you've been dealt.
I finally got around to this movie because of the podcast episode of This Had Oscar Buzz about it. The idea of that show is to discuss movies that had Oscar buzz at some point then earned no nominations when the time came. This is a prototypical Sundance hit in that way. When you show the movie to a theater full of people, it's easy to fall in love with it. In the light of day though, it becomes a harder sell. The movie doesn't demand your attention, so it's easy to call it lightweight. Even if you like it, it's hard to say what worked. You could credit the screenplay or direction, but you then start to wonder if all the fun details in the movie are actually sloppy attempts to add quirk. The movie was light on star power at the time. It holds up much more in hindsight with the casting. Dinklage is a big name now due to Game of Thrones. Bobby Cannavale has gone onto a prolific, Emmy award winning career. The Station Agent turned out to be just one of the movies in Clarkson's breakthrough 2003. She got an Oscar nomination for Pieces of April instead. Father down the cast list is pre-Oscar nominations Michelle Williams, pre-Mad Men John Slattery, and pre-Brooklyn Nine Nine Joe Lo Truglio.
In other words, I get why this movie went from Sundance sensation to falling off the map so quickly. I think it holds up quite well though. It's has the thoughtfulness to character that has made Tom McCarthy’s other movies work. I don't need more of this movie, but I sure wouldn't mind hanging out with the movie for a few more walks on the train track or food truck dinners.
Verdict: Strongly Recommend
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