The Station Agent Director: Tom McCarthy ! USA,2003 ! English ! 90 minutes ! Coloui735mm Production Company: SenArt Films Producer: Mary Jane Skalski, Robert May, Kathryn Tucker Screenplay: Tom McCarthy Cinematographer: Oliver Bokelberg Editor: Tom McArdle Production Designer; John Paino Sound: Paul Hsu, Damian Canelos Music: Stephen Trask Principal Cast: Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams, Raven Goodwin, Paul Benjamin Print Source: Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution Inc., 121 Bloor Street East, Suite 1500, Toronto ON M4W 3M5 Canada. T Foreign Sales Agent: Alliance Atlantis Entertainment Group, 121 Bloor Street East, Suite 1500, Toronto ON M4W 3M5 Canada. T Production: SenArt Films Production, 133 West Broadway, 5th Floor, New York NY 10013 Loneliness and its drinking buddy Isolation are most often found, ironically, hanging out amid a group of people. In his feature film debut, writer-director Tom McCarthy has created a miniature mosaic of characters who respond to the pain in their lives by fleeing from others - only to find themselves, full circle, in another involuntary com munity. Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is a reclusive dwarf whose passion for trains has become his livelihood; he works in a model shop that caters to like-minded enthusiasts. When his boss (Paul Benjamin) dies, the store closes and Finbar discovers that he has inherited an abandoned railway station house in rural New Jersey. Despite his desire to lead a hermitic life at the station, he is reluctantly drawn into the private, emotional undertows of two others who stand slightly outside the community. Joe (Bobby Cannavale) is a coffee vendor recently returned to his hometown; his unending flow of chatter masks fear and boredom. Olivia (the ubiquitous P atricia Clarkso n, also onscreen in several other Festival films) is a painter who has taken refuge fro m her past in the salutary countryside. The Station Agent is a spare, no-frills exploration of the basic human need to connect with others, a need that makes Finbar quite uneasy. W ith the same cautiousness that colours the three characters' intimacy, the film creeps slowly into each person's universe, at first in a respectfully tentative manner, then gaining momentum and force. It relies much less on plot than it does on McCarthy's sensitive use of the location and excellent performances in all three central roles: Dinklage captures Finbar's solemn protectiveness, Clarkson weaves her usual magic in revealing Olivia's many layers and Cannavale's Joe is so annoying, yet so profoundly lovable, that his relationship with Finbar and Olivia is completely understandable. By clearing away the cinem atic brush that often obfuscates the core of a story, McC arthy relies on go od photography, great acting and an elegant, lean script to highlight his characters' lives. These are brave, confident choices for a first-time director and they pay off in the delicacy of his tale..