Twenty Years Later, ‘The Station Agent’ Eases our Post-Pandemic Blues
What would a person do when they encounter ignorance and discrimination like in today’s post-pandemic world? For Finbar “Fin” McBridge, Peter Dinklage’s character in “The Station Agent,” the answer is isolating yourself in the comfortable world of trains.
Fin is a quiet bachelor with dwarfism living in Hoboken, New Jersey. He works away from the public eye in the back room of a model train hobby shop owned by his only friend, Henry Styles (Paul Benjamin). Belittled, photographed, and subjected to ignorant questions because of his height, Fin keeps to himself and uses his love of trains as a protective bubble against adversity and to avoid talking with people. However, Fin’s comfortable way of life is upended when Henry suddenly dies, and the hobby shop closes. Henry bequeaths to Fin an abandoned train depot in rural Newfoundland, New Jersey. Here he lives a bare bones, hermit-like existence, lacking essentials like electricity. As Fin becomes more reclusive, his new neighbors try to disrupt his isolated lifestyle.
Adjacent to Fin’s new residence, Joe (Bobby Cannavale) operates his sick father’s roadside food truck while the father recuperates. Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), who lives further down the railway, is an artist coping with the death of her son and her tumultuous marriage. Cleo (Raven Goodwin), a curious girl, shares Fin’s interest in trains and follows him around, asking questions and trying to convince him to speak to her class about trains. Despite having little commonalities, these characters are united by their shared loneliness, which ultimately leads to mutual growth and improvement.
What draws me most to this film is its balance between simplicity and depth. On the one hand, the film features simple characters trying to lead normal lives, and this is reinforced by various film elements. The cinematography predominantly consists of wide shots of Newfoundland’s industrial ruins and old railway tracks, highlighting the idea of unrealized potential. The dialogue emphasizes the awkward silences in everyday conversations, avoiding overly dramatic monologues. The soundtrack features humble Americana with steel string guitars instead of a John Williams film score.
On the other hand, the movie tackles the weighty subject of discovering purpose and joy in life while doing so in a lighthearted and unassuming manner. At the start of the movie, Fin is satisfied with his one friend and one hobby and makes no effort to move beyond his sheltered and fragile way of life. Fin doesn’t ruminate on life’s meaning. He simply wants to be left alone to his routine like a train keeping to its daily route. Yet, his constrained lifestyle limits what he can do and makes him miserable. Even his train hobby is limited by it–he only observes trains from a distance and has never actually ridden on one. Only when he befriends his neighbors does he actively pursue trains and learn to share his passion with someone besides himself.
The movie’s realistic drama includes unpredictable and sometimes obscene situations that teach us to laugh at ourselves; it also has instances where mounting stress, dysfunction, and discrimination reach a tipping point, causing us to question our existence. To me, this feels eerily similar to our post-pandemic world where we are confronted with anxiety, frustration, and relearning how to interact with human beings. For two years we have shielded ourselves from our isolated COVID-19 reality with various media: TikTok, Tiger King, Bernie Sanders’ mittens. To put it short, we were forced to live like Fin for two years.
With the pandemic near its end, “The Station Agent” feels like a breath of fresh air. It illustrates the importance of connecting with others, even when we feel the urge to retreat into ourselves. The film’s balance between simplicity and depth, along with its realistic, slice of life plot makes it a timeless work that offers hope to viewers facing the uncertainties of the post-pandemic world.
Regions: United States