With 2003's The Station Agent, Tom McCarthy transitioned from a moderately-employed actor (his most familiar role may still be playing the groom -- "Call me Bob... M.D." -- in Meet the Parents) into an immediately respected writer/director. McCarthy has continued to work in front of the camera, showing up in a number of George Clooney movies, the disaster flick 2012, Little Fockers, and a recurring role on "The Wire", but it his work behind it that has garnered the most attention.

McCarthy has followed his highly acclaimed debut with two more praised dramedies as writer/director, 2008's The Visitor (which surprised some when it earned long-underappreciated Richard Jenkins a Best Actor Oscar nomination) and last year's universally approved Win Win. In between those, McCarthy picked up an original screenplay Oscar nomination for his story work on Pixar's Up. It's early still, but with each new credit, McCarthy confirms himself as the kind of filmmaker who will take his time, write from the heart, and do no wrong. Working small may keep him anonymous with the general public, but the industry has surely taken notice and will continue to do so.

The Station Agent opens in a city we're later told is Hoboken, New Jersey. There, two longtime friends work together in a quaint model train shop. Their passion for trains extends to the only apparent social circle in their lives, a gathering of train buffs who nerdily narrate their train chasing home movies. The older man (Paul Benjamin) dies suddenly. His will calls for his shop to close. It also leaves a little abandoned train depot in rural Newfoundland, NJ to his friend, Fin (Peter Dinklage).

Fin is a dwarf and a highly reserved one at that. He worked behind-the-scenes at the model train shop and it's easy to understand his antisocial ways from the reactions and snickers he receives in public purely because of his stature. Fin settles into the rundown train depot, expecting to live in solitude and quiet. But he soon meets a neighbor in Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale), a talkative man vending the nearby hot dog and coffee truck of his sick father. Lonely Joe is stoked to make a friend, but Fin remains politely standoffish. A third party, Olivia (Patricia Clarkson), a separated artist pained by the recent death of her young son, interacts with them both, forming a perfectly eclectic circle of three friends.

This is a tremendously appealing film. Though it looks effortlessly so, McCarthy has imbued the script and the frame with tons of heart and flavor. He establishes three indelible characters so quickly and skillfully that all of sudden, the mere sight of them lined up and taking "the right of way" (i.e. walking on unused stretches of train tracks) is downright magical. The exchanges between world-weary Fin and boyish Joe are hilarious, their personalities at such odds but their manners making friendship inevitable. Olivia falls somewhere in between them on the personality scale, a kindred spirit in loneliness who comes to them with more baggage and airs of torment, tragedy, and disorganization.

Having these three very different individuals enter each other's lives is extraordinarily compelling. Typical for McCarthy, the tone is realistic and understated. At the same time, the setting and story are like something out of a children's picture book, each character with their distinctive wardrobe and vocabulary. That contrast renders the movie fascinating, even when it's doing nothing more than following Fin around on a solo walk with interesting Stephen Trask score or on an adventure to borrow a book from his new local library. Spending time with these three is an enjoyable and rewarding exercise in humanity, full of poignant, relatable emotion and a hopeful outlook on life.

Like most independent comedies, this one delivers substance, finding meaning in everything from tortured art to public humiliation. The fraction of the population who live with dwarfism might appreciate the rare depiction of an upstanding one of their kind. And even if they scoff at the notion of true friendship and serious romantic interest materializing around a wildly antisocial dwarf, the empathy it shows the condition and society's discomfort to it is touching, sincere, and believable.

What a cool added bonus for the film to have launched a major acting career for Peter Dinklage, who the very same year appeared briefly in one of the many hilarious parts of Elf, playing... a jaded children's book author (not what you would have guessed, huh?). Dinklage, who already had eight years of movies under his belt, has managed to sustain prominence and not merely with roles in effects-laden fantasies but a variety of films and, more recently, HBO's "Game of Thrones." His lead performance is central to The Station Agent's success.

Cannavale deserves special credit too. With the exception of his reteaming with McCarthy on Win Win, the actor's voluminous recent filmography of thankless supporting and recurring roles in comedies and TV dramas wouldn't lead you to expect such a strong, endearing characterization this long ago. Clarkson plays the kind of independent role that came to be expected of her, from which she is now successfully branching out. The film also includes nice supporting performances from the brief but resonant Benjamin, current awards darling Michelle Williams (as the friendly local librarian), and Richard Kind as an estate executor.

The Station Agent won three awards at Sundance, made good on three of four Independent Spirit Award nominations, and was recognized by dozens of other parties, including most notably the Screen Actors Guild. It was snubbed by the Academy, though, most surprisingly in the original screenplay category, which picked three European dramas to join the crowd-pleasing Finding Nemo and winner Lost in Translation.

The Station Agent returns to DVD this week, seven and a half years after its home video debut, not for any Special Edition but for a new, low-priced printing by Miramax library acquirer Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.

DVD Details 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Dolby Stereo 2.0 (English) Subtitles: None; Not Closed Captioned Release Date: January 10, 2012 Suggested Retail Price: $6.99 Single-sided, single-layered disc (DVD-5) Black Keepcase Previously released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment on June 15, 2004