Bookshelf:

Recently Read & Reviewed:

• Julian May, The Nonborn King

Currently Reading:

• Julian May, The Adversary

Next Up:

1. Margery Allingham, The Case of the Late Pig
2. Margery Allingham, The Fashion in Shrouds
3. Sean McMullen, Voyage of the Shadowmoon
4. Daniel Keys Moran, The Long Run
5. Paul Cornell, Something More

The Station Agent

Friday night Debbi and I continued our recently-started tradition of having dinner and watching a video to start the weekend. We went and rented a DVD for the first time in a long while (I managed to forget my wallet - can't remember the last time I did that! - so she ended up with the account). Other than that, it went off without a hitch. I'd wanted for a while to see The Station Agent, and Debbi was amenable, so that's what we saw. And boy, what a good film! Low-key, but funny and heartwarming.

Finn (Peter Dinklage) is a reclusive railroad enthusiast who works at a model railroad shop. He also happens to be a dwarf. When the owner, Henry (Paul Benjamin) dies, Peter inherits an old railway station in Newfoundland, New Jersey, where he moves to get away from it all. Wanting nothing more than to be left alone, he's promptly befriended by the local hot dog vendor, Joe (Bobby Cannavale), a talkative young man filling in for his father on the job. He's also accidentally run off the road by Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a woman whose son died a few years earlier, and who is separated from his husband. Olivia, too, has become a recluse, but Joe's naturally outgoing personality brings them all together.

While it sounds like a story about friendship, it's more about two characters - Finn and Olivia - confronting their demons. Olivia's are more evident and the result of circumstances, while Finn's are more intrinsic to himself - and not just his dwarfism, but his basic reclusive nature. In a sense, the film is about Finn coming to realize that he can't escape people and friends, and that they can be a true joy.

The Station Agent was moving for me in part because I could easily have seen myself turning out much like Finn. I have a strong reclusive streak in me, and have gone through periods where I didn't want to relate to other people more than the minimum necessary. It's hard - especially if you have to work to earn your money, which Finn apparently doesn't have to. (How he gets the money to live is a question best unasked in order to enjoy the film.)

Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, with playful and catchy music by Stephen Trask, the setting in rural New Jersey around the railroad station is artfully depicted as a location which is remote - but not too remote. I almost wished I could go live in a station like that myself, fix it up a little, sort of like a peculiar little vacation house. The script is witty and relies heavily on visuals and body language and expressions.

Peter Dinklage steals the show as Finn - as you'd expect, since he's the protagonist. With a flat middle American accent, Finn is firm but polite, always answering when people speak to him - if monosyllabically - and saying please and thank-you, but also falling just that bit short of actually engaging a person in conversation. And of course he eventually comes around to occupy a different position in his relationships with Joe and Olivia, letting Dinklage show his acting skills more broadly. It's a great performance.

It's not an adventure film, but it's not a "chick flick" either. The Station Agent deserves all the great reviews it got when it came out last year. Check it out.

Saturday we attended Debbi's company's annual picnic. They always get space at some Bay Area locale for their picnics, which I suspect doesn't do a lot for company togetherness (since people get together, have lunch for an hour, and then go off and do things on their own), but it sure is a lot of fun, and Debbi and I have taken advantage of the opportunity.

This year, the picnic was at Paramount's Great America, an amusement park in Silicon Valley similar in broad concept to Disneyland or Six Flags (Warner Bros' parks). Actually, I've never been to a Six Flags, but Great America struck me as being Disneyland lite.

For one thing, they clearly don't have the "A list" in character properties. They have Star Trek, and, uh... Spongebob Squarepants, and... Scooby Doo, and... uh... gee. Not really Star Wars and Indiana Jones, is it? They also haven't gone to the extent that Disneyland has to provide the illusion of different sections of the park and different milieus. You can easily see the not-so-lovely sprawl of Santa Clara from many points in the park, and sections with different themes seem to spill over into each other. Worst of all, they don't have the clever "FastPass" system at Disneyland, which effectively lets you wait in line for two rides at once. So you spend way more time standing in line for rides than anything else. Which would be better if there was a bit more to see from the lines, or if they didn't have these horrible tape loops of music videos running exactly the same at every point in the park. Gah.

So, that's the downside. The upside is that the rides are pretty good. The Top Gun ride is the best of the coasters, with your feet dangling out below you. The old style Demon is also quite good. The wooden Grizzly is okay, and I wasn't wild about the Vortex, where you stand up, because my head banged into the restraint bar several times which was unpleasant. The water rides are fun, but not as well-done as the corresponding rides at Disneyland. They do have a skyway, though, spanning the whole park, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Disneyland took their down years ago (long before I first went), which is kind of a bummer, since with its history I imagine it would benefit from one more than most.

Oh, and their corn dogs are quite tasty!

Anyway, we had a good day at the park, but were rather glad we didn't pay full price. Due to the park being more full than normal, we got comped passes to use later this season, so we might take a day off in September or October and go during the week when it's not so crowded. Bet we'll enjoy it more that way!