Station Agent: a film from the right side of the tracks

'The Station Agent' is set in Newfoundland, New Jersey; small town America where the (troubled) locals know each others' business and like to cruise the main street in four wheel drives.

Fin (Peter Dinklage), who is 4 feet 5 inches tall, sets tongues wagging when he moves into a disused station lodge bequeathed to him by fellow trainspotter friend Henry. He wants to be left alone - the locals won't let him.

Reactions to him going about his daily business range from a scream from the librarian (Michelle Williams, ex Dawson Creek), the grocery store seller taking his picture, and local child Chloe asking him which grade he is in.

Fin silently but wearily takes this in his stride, going for long walks along train tracks and reading his beloved trainspotter manuals.

Dinklage plays Fin magnificently as a young Marlon Brando, the quintessential angry young man with soulful eyes and who smokes roll-ups. When an unlikely friendship forms with the persistent coffee seller Joe, and eccentric artist Olivia, it is noticeable when he smiles for the first time. Yet this is no schmaltzy sympathy flick.

Dinklage as Fin broods through the film with angst, his silences - sometimes only broken by the sound of a passing train - speak loudly with emotion.

Skillfully and thoughtfully directed, we see the day to day reactions of strangers to him: the stares in the street, people touching him as if he were a child, the embarrassment and awkwardness of new acquaintances, and intrusive personal questions about his sex life. This film tells it like it is, with black humour and a quirky musical score.

Fin isn't the only one in the film with emotional issues. Joe looks after his sick father and Olivia (the excellent Patricia Clarkson) still mourns the death of her son Sam. Fin looks on with bemused tolerance as they invite themselves into his home. Friendship follows, with both Fin and Olivia having to learn to break down the barriers they've erected between themselves and the world.

The Station Agent was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and for good reason. It's rare to see a sensitive and appreciative characterisation of a disabled person on the silver screen, never mind with it also being damn good entertainment.

Dinklage is a talent to watch out for, although he is so impossibly good-looking that it's hard to countenance him being a loner trainspotter - rather like casting George Clooney as a hermit pigeon racer. And despite the fact that Fin is squatting on the sofa in the disused station lodge he always wears clean, freshly ironed shirts. Yet the slow pace of the film lets the subtleties of characterisation shine through.

This film is a gem and a step in the right direction for positive portrayal of disability. All the characters have their own challenges and issues in life, it's just that Fin's are visible.