Fin McBride (Dinklage), a loner with a passion for trains,
inherits an abandoned train station in the middle of nowhere - a
place that suits him just fine because all he wants is to be
alone. But that is not to be. Soon after moving in, he discovers
his isolated depot is more like Grand Central Station. There's
Olivia (Clarkson), a distracted and troubled artist, and Joe
(Cannavale), a friendly Cuban with an insatiable hunger for
conversation. With absolutely nothing in common, they find their
isolated lives coming together in a friendship none of them could
foresee.
CRITIQUE
Wow, I missed a real
gem with The Station Agent when it played on the big
screen, but thankfully it's now out on DVD. This is a terrific
film, a real find. First of all, Tom McCarthy's script is totally
fresh and funny. The dialogue is casual and realistic, but also
very fun. The characters make the biggest impact other than the
fresh and smart premise, and the actors playing them make all the
difference. Peter Dinklage plays the reclusive Finbar McBride with
a great deal of conviction, he gives the guy a real personality.
Fin is not shy, mind you, he just doesn't believe in small talk or
conversing with strangers. In effect, Dinklage's performance
drives the film. He's kind of awesome, actually.
The supporting cast
consists of the troubled but beautiful Patricia Clarkson, the
talkative and enthusiastic Bobby Cannavale, and sexy librarian
Michelle Williams. The actors really immerse themselves in the
characters, and the outcome is a fresh and splendid portrait of
small-town life in America, or Newfoundland in this case. Director
Tom McCarthy and director of photography Oliver Bokelberg capture
all the right images at the perfect location and in perfect light,
which creates a beautiful-looking film. Another aspect about this
film I really like is Stephen Trask's terrific score; it evokes a
kind of feel-good response in you, but more importantly the score
fits the tone of the film very well. Well, as I said, The
Station Agent is a terrific film - one of the few very best
films of the year 2003.
THE VIDEO
Miramax presents The
Station Agent in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The color
palette is rich and crisp. Colors look clean and well-saturated.
Image quality is generally pretty good with only a few specks
showing up. There's several instances of grain, but overall the
image looks natural and fresh. Compression artifacts do not
appear. Black levels and dark tones look quite nice. Overall, a
very nice presentation.
Optional subtitles
include English, French, and Spanish.
THE AUDIO
Miramax presents The
Station Agent in English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. Dialogue
is clear and easy to understand. The front channels emit audio
clearly without any distractions or noise. Much of the
presentation is front-centered, but that's just fine. The surrounds are active during the
train chase sequence and whenever Stephen Trask's score appears.
A French dub track
is also available.
THE EXTRAS
The first thing is a feature commentary
by director Thomas McCarthy, and actors Peter Dinklage, Patricia
Clarkson, and Bobby Cannavale. Oddly, the extras menu only
lists McCarthy. Anyway, this is a pretty nice track with lots of
stories and discussions on the film, the production, the
characters, and general things happening on screen. They share
great chemistry here, which is certainly refreshing for a
commentary. Overall this is a fun and interesting track.
The five deleted scenes are nice
and add up to about four minutes. There's more with Finn and
Henry at the store, as well as an alternate ending of sorts. The
optional commentary by McCarthy, Dinklage, and Cannavale
on these scenes is good.
If you can take it, the DVD begins with a
2.5-minute Miramax Golden Age of Cinematrailer
that's certainly self-indulging, yet The Barbarian Invasions
trailer is actually a good one. The 89-minute feature is
organized into twenty-one chapters.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There isn't anything
negative to say about The Station Agent. I cared about the
characters and their situations, plus watching Fin and Joe train
chasing actually seems like a fun thing to do. The Station Agent
is at times a drama and a comedy, and McCarthy balances the two genres
perfectly. Again, the script is fresh and fun, and the performances
are both natural and delightful. I highly recommend this film and DVD;
great commentary and video/audio quality is very nice.
