Reviews for The Station Agent
Review - Station Agent, The
More a story of character than a plot, so I’ll describe it by characters
Fin McBride — A Dwarf who lives a quiet existence in the backroom of a train hobby shop. His friend, the shop owner, dies and leaves Fin a piece of property in rural New Jersey with an old train depot. Fin moves there and tries to live quietly alone, watching the trains and fixing up the depot and the old cars on his property. He can’t manage, however, due to Joe who insists on being friends and including Olivia in the friendship.
Joe Oramas — Joe is a happy-go-lucky young man who is running his father’s hot dog stand in the lot next to Fin’s depot while his father is recuperating from an illness. He insists on befriending Fin and won’t take no for an answer, walking with him when he wanders the train tracks and sitting on a bench for hours waiting for trains to go by.
Olivia Harris — Olivia is a woman trying to get over the loss of her son and the breakup of her marriage. She meets Fin when her car swerves and she runs him off the road as he was walking to the store. She brings him a bottle of wine as an apology, then buys him a camera so he can film trains.
Cleo — Cleo is a young Black girl who lives in the neighborhood and hangs around the depot. She convinces Fin to come in a speak to her school class about trains.
Emily — Emily is the town librarian, a young girl who is unmarried and pregnant. She also befriends Fin and spends the night at the depot when her family gets down on her for being pregnant.
That’s basically the story. After Joe and Fin make a movie of a train, they go to Olivia’s for dinner and to show her the movie. They get drunk and spend the night. The next morning, her ex-husband shows up and gets on her case for having two men over. She shuts the others out of her life for a while. Joe and Fin also quarrel, but after a while, Fin determines to see Olivia again. He finds her on the floor of her kitchen, passed out from taking too many pills. He gets her to the hospital and calls Joe. They wait for her to come out. The movie ends with the three friends sitting quietly together enjoying an evening.
Katie Palmer recommended this movie to me. I enjoyed it as a picture of lonliness that rang true. I also like trains and the trappings. I could have done without Joe’s foul language. He even swears in the middle of a prayer. But the characters were very well done and likeable in their quirkiness and pain.
Fin McBride — A Dwarf who lives a quiet existence in the backroom of a train hobby shop. His friend, the shop owner, dies and leaves Fin a piece of property in rural New Jersey with an old train depot. Fin moves there and tries to live quietly alone, watching the trains and fixing up the depot and the old cars on his property. He can’t manage, however, due to Joe who insists on being friends and including Olivia in the friendship.
Joe Oramas — Joe is a happy-go-lucky young man who is running his father’s hot dog stand in the lot next to Fin’s depot while his father is recuperating from an illness. He insists on befriending Fin and won’t take no for an answer, walking with him when he wanders the train tracks and sitting on a bench for hours waiting for trains to go by.
Olivia Harris — Olivia is a woman trying to get over the loss of her son and the breakup of her marriage. She meets Fin when her car swerves and she runs him off the road as he was walking to the store. She brings him a bottle of wine as an apology, then buys him a camera so he can film trains.
Cleo — Cleo is a young Black girl who lives in the neighborhood and hangs around the depot. She convinces Fin to come in a speak to her school class about trains.
Emily — Emily is the town librarian, a young girl who is unmarried and pregnant. She also befriends Fin and spends the night at the depot when her family gets down on her for being pregnant.
That’s basically the story. After Joe and Fin make a movie of a train, they go to Olivia’s for dinner and to show her the movie. They get drunk and spend the night. The next morning, her ex-husband shows up and gets on her case for having two men over. She shuts the others out of her life for a while. Joe and Fin also quarrel, but after a while, Fin determines to see Olivia again. He finds her on the floor of her kitchen, passed out from taking too many pills. He gets her to the hospital and calls Joe. They wait for her to come out. The movie ends with the three friends sitting quietly together enjoying an evening.
Katie Palmer recommended this movie to me. I enjoyed it as a picture of lonliness that rang true. I also like trains and the trappings. I could have done without Joe’s foul language. He even swears in the middle of a prayer. But the characters were very well done and likeable in their quirkiness and pain.
Reviewed by Roger on 2008-08-05 14:44:30