“The Station Agent” is a superb movie about the limits of loneliness for a handful of characters in a tiny New Jersey town. Peter Dinklage’s quiet, soulful performance as Finn, a dwarf who moves to Newfoundland after inheriting a small piece of property from a recently deceased friend, is a bracing portrayal of wounded stoicism. Writer/director Thomas McCarthy milks the inherent interest of his tiny stature without straying into the weepy, the voyeuristic, or the sensational. The film is a study of how those around him react to his condition, ways ranging from cruel to patronizing to genuinely affectionate.

What’s fascinating here is that even those who love him are, to a certain extent, inadvertently using him. Finn calls himself “a boring guy”, yet he becomes the confessor for a handful of people who regard his deformity as an invitation to unpack their hearts. Finn’s life is bittersweet because, even for those he loves, there always exists the insuperable barrier of his condition. His conscious refusal to hold it against them not only gives Finn his dignity but opens up relationships that otherwise wouldn’t have had a chance to develop. The pitch-perfect script has a number of wonderful scenes, and all of the performers—led by Dinklage, a melancholy Patricia Clarkson and a high-spirited Bobby Cannavale—imbue this story with humor, sincerity, and a well-earned streak of poignancy.