Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

The Station Agent

(2003)

We loved this little movie. It’s little in every respect: it is low-budget, there is no violence or overstated emotions, and the main character, Fin, is 4’6″. He is a train freak, and he inherits a small abandoned train station in New Jersey and decides to live there. He is very withdrawn, sick and tired of being a circus attraction everywhere he goes, he just wants to be alone. But he is gradually drawn to an ebullient neighbor with a coffee-and-franks van, a wounded woman who almost runs him down with her car, and a schoolgirl who drops by. No big climax, no huge moment of revelation, but watching him gradually come out of his shell and actually have some friends is wonderful.