THE STATION AGENT

Year: 2003
USA: Miramax Films
UK: Buena Vista International UK
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Raven Goodwin, Paul Benjamin, Michelle Williams, Jayce Bartok, Sarah E Bolger, Maile Flanagan, Ileen Getz, Richard Kind, Joe Lo Truglio
Director: Thomas McCarthy
Country: USA
USA: 88 mins
UK: 90 mins
USA Rated: R for language and some drug content
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language
USA Release Date: 3 October 2003
UK Release Date: 26 March 2004

US Distributor

Synopsis

Anyone who has been an outsider, or lived on the fringe, or wondered if they are completely on their own in life will likely resonate with the story of Finbar McBride, a train-lover at the center of THE STATION AGENT. Fin, a handsome dwarf, just wants to be left alone. Or so he thinks. But when he takes up residence in a broken-down train depot in rural New Jersey, instead of total isolation he discovers something entirely unexpected - a need for connection and knack for true friendship.

Winner of the Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, THE STATION AGENT marks the debut of writer/director Tom McCarthy, who sets off on a dynamic journey into a hidden America of loners, exiles and eccentrics with a mix of deadpan humour, stark emotion and haunting visual beauty. At Sundance, the film also garnered the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and the Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance for actress Patricia Clarkson.

Peter Dinklage stars as Fin McBride, who can work up far more passion for trains than people. When Fin's train-store boss dies and leaves him an abandoned depot, Fin hopes solitude will at last be his. He arrives in town a man who does not want to be bothered. But his life unwittingly intersects with the tracks of two others: a grieving painter (Clarkson) who nearly runs Fin over and a lonely, motor-mouthed hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale) always hungry for conversation. In spite of himself, and entirely by surprise, Fin becomes swept up in their lives, and even in a romance with the town's sexually provocative librarian (Michelle Williams) - as he reinvents himself as the catalytic centre of a community.

THE STATION AGENT is written and directed by Tom McCarthy.