Tom McCarthy’s drama in which a lonely man (Peter Dinklage) tries to escape society by moving to a remote rail depot, and makes new friends. Also starring Patricia Clarkson.

The story concerns the life of train enthusiast and disheartened little person Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) which takes an unforeseen turn when his boss perishes and wills him a railroad depot in New Jersey.

He chooses to go back to the tiny town, where he helps talkative food vendor Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale) and miserable wife Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson). As the trio's connections deepen, unusual discussions and conclusions happen. Finbar also adds understanding from librarian Emily (Michelle Williams).

Peter Dinklage gives a good performance in his role as the isolated man with dwarfism whose life changes, while Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale are both decent in their respective parts as the married couple involved who Finbar forms strong bonds with.

Elsewhere, there is a fine performance to be had from Michelle Williams as the librarian helping out Finbar as much as possible.

The direction from McCarthy (his directorial debut) is very good because he allows the facial expressions to be seen to a strong effect throughout, while also keeping a mixed atmosphere happening as well.

The script is written to a decent standard by the director as he makes the movie good to follow and creates some humour too, meaning the movie never takes itself too seriously. But even when the movie isn’t funny, you can still understand what is happening, because the narrative is definitely there from beginning to end, with Tom winning a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.

The camera stands out best in terms of the technical aspects, because it makes very good use of the locations and also captures the tense, moving and occasional funny moments well, which get the edge-of-the-seat status.

The only criticism I have is that the pace is a little slow at times.

Overall, despite the pacing, The Station Agent is a very decent drama, due to the good performances, direction, script, proper mixture of an atmosphere.