The Station Agent

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 The Station Agent (2003) deals with some of society’s outsiders who come in different shapes, genders, and races, and how they struggle to make connections to each other and the world at large.

The film opens with Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) observing a train arriving at a city station. He pulls out a pocket watch that looks like the kind used by train conductors in the past. The image immediately tells us how he is linked to trains. He is a dwarf, and IMDb notes that St. Finbar was a religious hermit born in the sixth century. He founded a monastery which, ironically, attracted many people and the place became the Irish City of Cork. Fin’s name implies that he, too, wishes to be left alone, but may not be able to escape into a fortress of solitude. At this point, his attachment to trains may show how he would like to settle down in one secure place but must keep moving to find sanctuary.

Fin works at a train shop in New Jersey owned by Henry Styles (Paul Benjamin). It is called The Golden Spike, which refers to the spot where different railroad companies joined their tracks together. It suggests connection. But, at this point, Fin is quite a loner. One can understand why he wants to avoid people since as he walks on the street boys ask him if he knows Snow White, and when he shops at the supermarket, people stare at him and giggle.

Henry and Fin plan on going to a screening of a home movie made on a train trip, but their expectations are not great, and they are right since it is a boring presentation. There are several train enthusiasts attending, but there is no conversation between them, so the impression is that they are content in their oddness which brings them together, but not in a personal way.

In a quick foreshadowing, one of the miniature figures that Finn is painting at the train store topples over, and Henry immediately collapses in the shop and dies. Could the tiny figure represent the upheaval that the diminutive Fin will encounter? Fin meets with Henry’s attorney, Louis Tuboni (Richard Kind), who says in six weeks the shop and its contents will be sold according to Henry’s will. He left some property to Fin, which turns out to be a train depot in a remote part of the state, where according to Tuboni, “there’s nothing.” That may actually seem like an attractive prospect for the socially shunning Fin. The town is called Newfoundland, and the name can indicate a “new” start for Fin.

Like a solitary hobo, he walks along tracks as train cars go by. He reaches the station and looks outside which confirms its remoteness. However, the next morning he is awakened by a man setting up his food truck with the name “Gorgeous Frank’s ” written on it right next to the building. The owner is Joe Oramas (Bonny Cannavale), who is just the opposite of Fin. Joe is a very gregarious fellow who wants to engage Fin in conversation that Fin does not want to be part of. Joe says it’s his father’s truck, who is sick, and Joe has been taking care of business for the past six weeks in the meantime. From Manhattan, Joe is out of his element and he craves some companionship. The only way that Joe even knows that Fin lives right there is when the newcomer takes the mailbox and places it on the porch of the depot so can have access to it. The shot implies that the world as a whole is out of reach for Fin.

Fin is almost run over by Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson), who spilled coffee on herself and drove erratically as a result. It seems Fin can only meet people by accident. She offers to give him a ride but as usual he refuses. He offers Joe little information as to why he is dirty and refuses to go with him for a beer. He doesn’t like bars most likely because of receiving ridicule, but will not even drink with Joe alone or take a walk with him, so used is he to feeling safe when by himself. Finn stays where he thinks he feels safe from others as he walks along the railroad tracks. However, he attracts another well-meaning person, Cleo (Raven Goodwin), a young African American girl who follows him. He stops and just says “Hi” to her and she runs off. She is a bit of an outsider herself, and maybe she sensed a connection with Fin because his height matches her own.

There is a knock at the station which is disturbing to the hermit-like Fin, and it is Olivia bringing a bottle of bourbon as a housewarming/apology gift. She sees Fin smoking and she says that she slept with a guy when she was nineteen because he rolled his own cigarettes. It is an awkward statement, injecting a sexual element here. Fin doesn’t have a phone, adding to his desire to be off the social grid, and Olivia likes that, as she admits she has two phones and never answers them. She notes that her former husband gave her one of the phones, and her marital situation indicates she is also not in a connected place in her life. She is physically awkward as she knocks over a ticket box, symbolizing her unstable situation. She admits to losing her son two years prior, so we understand why she is in an emotional limbo. After revealing this fact, she wants isolation also, and tells Fin not to look at her.

She falls asleep on Fin’s couch and Fin slept in the bathtub, giving both of them their privacy. When she wakes, she feels embarrassed that she stayed overnight and runs out. Joe has met her before and suggestively jokes that she must have missed her train the prior night. Joe issues another unwanted knock on Fin’s door, gives him some coffee, and assaults him with unwanted questions about Olivia’s sleepover. He vicariously wants a connection to Olivia, and he so craves human contact, unlike Fin, that he makes Fin promise him that if he and Olivia do something later, he wants to join them. Olivia left her phone there which begins to ring. Fin finds out her address from Joe, and drops off the phone without even trying to talk with Olivia, despite having made her acquaintance. Meanwhile, Olivia is at her place painting, which also designates her as an artistic outsider, expressing herself on the canvas instead of to people. When she gets calls from her husband, she ignores them. A woman stops by and Olivia escapes, saying she has to go out. She is as evasive as Fin. They both wind up at the library, but Fin doesn’t have a library card yet. The library worker, Emily (Michelle Williams) doesn’t see his small-scale approach and is startled, dropping books on the floor, another example of how he doesn’t fit in with the expectations of others. Later, Olivia, who somehow feels safe around Fin, possibly because he is so unobtrusive, checks out the book for him and, according to Joe, leaves it at his doorstep, an attempt to make up for her overextended visit.

Cleo finally has a minimal conversation with Fin, who she innocently thinks, because of his size, might still be going to school. She does then ask if he’s a “midget” to which he responds, “no.” Much of his dialogue at the beginning consists of “yes” or “no” answers reflecting his desire to limit engaging with anyone. Some young men visit Joe’s truck and when they see Fin come out of the station, they make derogatory comments. Joe shuts them down and looks at them with disdain, which shows he is above their prejudicial way of thinking.

Olivia drives past Fin who is sitting near a pond reading. When she gets coffee at Joe’s, he finds out that she passed Fin. Joe asks for a ride to see Fin. While they ride together, she gives monosyllabic responses, mimicking Fin, which shows how she is like him in her social aversion. She does not want to join them, so Joe approaches Fin by himself and finds out that Fin is train watching. However, one goes by with very few cars about ninety minutes apart. Joe, who is starving for something to do, is no satisfied with the activity. They run into Olivia coming out of a store and Joe gets the other two to join him at his truck for dinner. Fin and Olivia seem uncomfortable with the arrangement as Joe tries to morph them into his version of the Three Musketeers. It’s funny when Joe asks Fin if people like him have clubs. Probably the first thing that comes into our minds, and also in Fin’s, is that Joe is making a prejudicial remark about Fin’s height. But Joe follows it with that he means people who love trains. Unfortunately, Joe, the glue holding these three together, must leave to take care of his ailing father. Olivia gets Fin’s lack of desire for social interaction and says she is “cool” with them just eating and not talking.

Joe now becomes Fin’s walking companion as they hike along the tracks and go to the pond to watch trains. The outgoing Joe narrates as he flings stones into the water to pass the time. He engages Fin by asking about the best train routes. Olivia drops off a camera at Fin’s because he admitted he can’t be a train chaser since he doesn’t drive and has no way to photograph the vehicles. Olivia meets Cleo who is pretending she is a conductor on one of the abandoned trains there. The young girl has a track spike collection, so she, too, is drawn to the world of trains, possibly suggesting her inner desire to hit the road and escape her solitary world.

Joe, the urban outsider in this rural area, continues to try to cement the connection with Olivia and Fin. They walk the “right of way,” which Fin explains comes from the government acquiring land to develop railroad passage. Joe, though tall, is the one who is like a child looking for something to do, quite the opposite of the other two, who retreat into their passions, trains and painting. Joe even wants to just play soccer with some kids who show up at his stand, accepting anything that will keep him occupied. Olivia comments to Fin that Joe, “does enjoy life,” which can’t be said for her and Fin at this point. That feeling overwhelms Olivia and she leaves to be alone.

Joe drives his truck and Fin uses the camera that Olivia brought him so they can indulge in some train chasing. Fin actually appears happy for the first time. Joe invites both of them to Olivia’s house so they can screen their film. Olivia is running late and is draped only in a towel when she lets them in, which again adds a sexual note to the encounter. It is the first time the two men see Olivia’s paintings, which startles Joe. As Joe cooks a meal, Fin and Olivia dip their feet in an adjacent pond, and Olivia says she is not used to having a loud person, such as Joe, in her house, again attesting to her state of solitude. She says that the house was a “getaway” place, and she really used to get away, because she couldn’t stand being in her former community where she was the “poor woman whose son died.” We now know why Olivia has withdrawn from the world, and she feels the pain of her loss and dislikes feeling pitied. But Fin gives us little of his backstory. When Olivia asks why he moved there, he jokingly says to be near Joe.

After they enjoy the meal and film together, Fin does admit when asked by Olivia that he was in love once, but he was young and angry, most likely due to harassment, which probably ruined the relationship. He is amazed how people single him out just because of his height even though he is just a regular “boring” person. He asks if she is still in love with her ex-husband, David (John Slattery), and she says yes. Was he fishing to see if he had a chance with her? Joe is passed out and Olivia insists that they stay over. There is a photograph of Olivia’s son next to the bed where Fin is, and he comments that he looked like a happy kid. Moved by Fin’s statement, she gives Fin a goodnight kiss on the lips. Unfortunately, David decides to show up the next morning to find Fin coming down from upstairs and Joe eating cereal. Olivia asks her two houseguests to step outside as Olivia and David argue over the presence of the other two men and the fact that Olivia will not answer David’s phone calls. Olivia is seeking solace from the loss of her son, but David’s appearance invades her emotional and physical escape.

Cleo doesn’t understand Fin’s desire to be left alone and wants him to talk about trains at her school. She is quite angry with him when he says he can’t appear. From her innocent viewpoint, which is the unbiased position the film seems to think we should aspire to, there is no logical reason why he should have to feel inhibited. Meanwhile, Olivia doesn’t show up for her daily coffee at Joe’s truck, not feeling social, and she takes some pills to cope after David’s intrusion. Joe has tried to adapt to being quiet and read along with Fin, just to share his company. But, he does attempt to obtain more personal history from him. Fin admits that he has had sex with a full-sized woman, but not with a person his own size. When Joe presses, Fin cuts him off, most likely not feeling comfortable as to why he should have to talk about how his life is different.

Now that he has verified his address, Fin is able to get his own library card. When he sees Emily again, she says he has a nice chin. It is an intriguing statement and Fin shares the observation with Joe, which shows how these two are becoming buddies. Olivia drives right past Fin and Joe, which shows how the encounter with her husband has made her withdraw into herself. Fin is at the grocery store when Olivia calls in an order as she is probably not willing to even to shop. Fin says he will deliver the items as he most likely wants to know how she is doing. But she has no interest in seeing him and is cold as she pays him for the groceries and immediately closes the door. Fin’s hurt is mirrored in his face as he probably feels that he thought he was getting close to someone who has now rejected him.

Fin told the surprised Joe that he would go with him and his dad to the local bar he was not previously willing to visit. But he is carrying this immediate hurt concerning Olivia there with him. Emily is waiting for her loser boyfriend Chris (Jayce Bartok) who is standing her up. He calls and she is distraught. She confides in Fin, telling him that she is pregnant. She was abrupt with Chris who drives over and pushes Emily around for telling him to get lost. Fin tries to keep Chris away from Emily and then he slams Fin into a car. Emily tells Fin to leave to protect him. Fin looks disgusted since it seems when he tries to connect with someone all he gets is grief. He slams the door closed to his station in anger.

Trains roar past his new home seemingly reminding him of how life is passing him by while he is stationed, as it were, in his predicament. The next day Joe comes by to apologize that he didn’t show up at the bar because his father was not feeling well. Fin is now angry at all the disappointment he has suffered by engaging with others and bluntly tells Joe that he wants to be left alone, which is the only way he feels emotionally safe. He wanders to the bench to watch trains go by and there is a shot there of a father showing his two young sons how to fish. The inclusion of this image sharpens the contrast between those that lead fulfilling average family lives and the outcast world of Fin. Meanwhile, Olivia’s husband continues to just reach her phone machine, as Olivia is absent even from the camera shot to stress her isolation.

At night Emily visits Fin and apologizes for what happened with her boyfriend. She is on the outs with society, too, right now, as she relates how her family is in an uproar about her being pregnant. She was going to move in with Chris, but probably realizes what a jerk he is. So, she is feeling homeless. In their conversation, Fin says that long ago the station agent would deliver mail and even give haircuts. It is interesting that Fin lives in a place once occupied by a person who was so much a part of the community. Perhaps the building’s abandonment is a reflection on the current disconnected society. Fin says he’s retired now and when she questions why since he is not that old, he says that dwarves retire early. Emily is funny when she comments, “Yea, lazy dwarves.” They then share a passionate kiss, and she asks if she could just sleep there that night. They share the couch with their heads at opposite ends. There is intimacy without the two being physically intimate. She leaves the next day after the usually remote Fin gave her sanctuary for an evening.

Fin starts to sit outside Olivia’s house each day, smoking cigarettes and eating his lunch. He wants to monitor her without intruding, but it does come off as a bit of a stalking maneuver. One time she is on the phone having an angry conversation with her ex-husband. Fin approaches her on her porch to try to offer comfort, but it is bad timing since she is furious. She yells at him, saying she is neither his girlfriend nor his mother and he must leave. He goes to the crowded local bar and gets drunk as he sees those there, including Emily’s boyfriend, stare at him and smile, as if making jokes about him. He explodes, breaking shot glasses with his sweeping arm. He shouts, “Here I am! Take a look. Take a look!” Joe, Olivia, Emily, and Cleo invaded his solitude, and he can’t hide by blending into the background at the bar. He feels as if he can’t escape notice which brings along with it hurt feelings. So, he changes from being a covert center of attention to an overt one.

He stumbles back toward the station on the tracks, the objects that gives him direction. But he is intoxicated and he falls. He sees the light of a train coming at him and he smiles, as if wanting death to free him from his emotional torture. But, it was just an alcohol-induced dream. He wakes up on the tracks. However, his pocket watch was smashed. Could it mean he is ready to move on away from his restrictive past?

He visits Olivia’s house again. She is on the floor and a bottle of pills is next to her. She has fallen, literally and figuratively, just like Fin, by taking a supposedly pain-killing substance. So, what is happening to them bonds them together. She says that David is having a baby in his new relationship, which obviously is horrible for Olivia, as she sees him as replacing loss with hope, which she is not capable of doing in her life. She falls crying into Fin’s arms, and now he is there at the right time to offer her comfort. The next scene has Fin sitting in a waiting room as a doctor talks to Olivia. The implication is that he helped her seek counseling.

Finn, after successfully aiding Olivia, now reaches out to Joe and they greet a smiling Olivia as she is discharged from the hospital and they take her home. Fin and Olivia spend time together in a serene shot near the calming pond. Fin, no longer trying to hide, goes to Cleo’s classroom to talk about trains. He tells the students that the first train was called the “Tom Thumb,” which links him to his passion based on the size reference. The film is not about to say everything will be okay, since one boy makes fun of Fin’s height, and the teacher pulls him out of the class.

The story ends with a relaxing and humorous night scene on Olivia’s porch where Joe has made dinner for her, Fin, and himself. Joe says there is plenty of food left over for the next day. Olivia smiles at him, as his words point to the ongoing friendship between the three. A child in the class asked about another mode of transportation, blimps. Fin asks Olivia and Joe if they know when blimps were invented. Joe says Fin can go to the library and ask Emily. Joe talks about a librarian fantasy, where she loses her glasses and books fly everywhere. Fin says Emily doesn’t have glasses. Olivia tells him, “Well, buy her some, it’s worth it.” Trains have now become a symbol for bringing people together.

The next film is Pickpocket.