The Station Agent

I was told to see this after hearing that HBO's adaptation of the brilliant book series A Song of Ice and Fire is officially getting a full season, because it was directed by Thomas McCarthy, who shot the pilot, and stars Peter Dinklage, who'll be playing my favorite character. McCarthy is better known as an actor, but he's done a couple films now and they've been very well received by the few people who have seen them. The Station Agent is short and light on plot, but it still manages to pack a lot of heart and humanity into its 90ish minutes. Dinklage plays a man with dwarfism who moves out into a rural part of New Jersey after his friend and the owner of the store where he works passes away and leaves him some property.

He's a quiet loner with a passion for trains and not much else, and you get a taste of his life where he's always seen as different and often mocked. Even the other main characters who come to befriend him over time seem to treat him differently because of what he is, and it's an interesting thing to watch. With the character being reserved, it isn't very obvious most of the time what he's feeling, but it still seems like you know what he's going through thanks to the subtle intelligence of the performance and the detached way he seems to view everything. The movie might have been especially poignant to me, since I was always short growing up (I still am, just not enough to be gawked at), although anyone who's ever felt out of place could probably get something out of it.

I may be making the movie sound too morose or something, but in some ways it could be called a comedy, thought a pretty naturalistic and understated one. It gets more serious in its last half hour, but in general it's simply a pleasant watch, well shot without an excess of flair and with strong performances from everyone. Patricia Clarkson got a few awards for her turn as a painter who separated from her husband after her son died, and rightly so, and Bobby Cannavale is enjoyable as the overly enthusiastic patron of a hot dog stand. The chemistry between the three friends is a unique one, as you'd probably not expect any of them to ever spend time together, but it makes for an entertaining and touching film. It's not the kind of thing I usually watch, but I liked it a lot and have even more confidence that Game of Thrones will be great.