A quick review of The Station Agent, a film a saw on the spur of the moment last night.
It’s a well-written, superbly acted film where – almost – nothing happens. And, unlike many films of it’s type it’s well-worth watching because the characters are both fascinating and endearing. Fin is, as they say, vertically challenged and moves into a parochial American backwater town where a Cuban hot dog man sells his wares to (more-or-less) nobody and Olivia, a artist going through a messy divorce who almost drives over our hero (twice). They are an odd set of warm characters performed brilliantly by the cast.
It’s also a comedy and succeeds in not turning farcical with lots of slapstick about shorter people. The comedy is tender, clever and entertaining but it’s not a belly-laugh-a-minute film.
The Station Agent turned out to be one of the best films I have seen so far this year.