spot on brilliant filmmaking

If you see one film this weekend, do yourself an enormous favour and rent THE STATION AGENT. I watched it last night and it knocked me arse off the couch.

The Station Agent (2003) is an amazing film from rookie writer/director Tom McCarthy about a man who inherits an abandoned train station and, hoping to find solitude, discovers the thing he wanted least - neighbours.

Starring Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson and Michelle Williams - top drawer.

Film Links

The Station Agent (official site)
Miramax Films - The Station Agent (trailer)

NYT reader review

Six Stars, Actually
August 20, 2004
Reviewer: edfou5

"I'd easily give this film six stars if I could. On every level - performances, camerawork, sound, music, locations and sets, lighting, script, direction, casting - this is easily the finest film I've seen in ten years, with the most noble characteristics of the best French cinema. I was genuinely moved by it, it's stayed with me for days. As the credits rolled, I didn't want to say goodbye to these characters, and I never feel that way. As to previous reviews, no, it's not a comedy, that's just how movies like this get categorized by brainless marketers and video store managers. And yes, the librarian is played by a crushingly beautiful actress, but that actress delivers a performance that transcends her physical beauty - as corny as it sounds she transmits the character's innocence and charm and inner beauty with memorable effect. Really an unforgettable, joyous, somewhat haunting film that any serious film junkie has to see. Fail to catch it and you're really, really missing something very unique."

Spot on, edfou5! So what are y'all waiting for? Mosey down to your local vid shop before you end up watching back-to-back episodes of COPS tonight. Tell 'em Wig sent ya.

I'd love to recommend Cabaret Balkan too, Richard but I can't... because I can't find the fucking thing on DVD!

P.S. Patricia Clarkson (above), aside from her substantial acting creds, is a freakin' hottie, man. At age 45, she's a sizzler in this film. You might recognize her from HBO's Six Feet Under too; she plays Ruth's younger sister Sarah:

"God, there's so much emotion to navigate where family is concerned... Vicodin, anyone?" LOL

Tonight I'm watchin' The Manchurian Candidate (1962):

"Director-producer John Frankenheimer's prophetically tragic, chilling, brilliant, blackish (film-noirish) Cold War thriller about brain-washing, conspiracy, the dangers of international Communism, McCarthyism, assassination, and political intrigue. Laurence Harvey is brilliant as a brainwashed Korean war hero who has been programmed as a Soviet sleeper/mole agent to assassinate a Presidential candidate. It can be categorized within many film genres - it functions as a horror film, a war film, a science fiction film, a black comedy, a suspense-thriller, and a political melodrama (with additional segments of romance and action).

The mood of this pseudo-documentary, satirical film masterpiece (from prolific veteran television director Frankenheimer) is paranoic, surrealistic, dark, macabre, cynical, and foreboding - these elements are combined in a traditional, top-notch suspenseful thriller framework with a nail-biting, Alfred Hitchcock-like climax. The movie displays the emerging role and importance of television in broadcasting public affairs and shaping opinion, and the circus atmosphere that surrounds American politics."

Sweeet - thx Greg ; - )