The Machinist

This kind of thing just cannot be good for you.Good for Christian Bale, that is. Losing fifty or sixty pounds to play the emaciated “Machinist”, packing on forty pounds to play Dick Cheney, bulking up with massive exercise to be Batman….it’s only flesh and blood, Bale, the body can only take so much. At some point, I’d think these swings in body type have to cost some kind of long term toll.There’s dedication to the role, and then there’s self-abuse. Dustin Hoffman, another Method actor, went for days without sleeping or bathing to prepare himself for a role. Sir Laurence Olivier asked him, “Why not just “act”, dear boy? It’s ever so much less trouble.”Anyway, Christian Bale sure did get scary thin to play Trevor Reznik, the eponymous machinist. Concentration camp thin. Bataan Death March thin. If I’d been the company insuring the production of “The Machinist”, I’d have been worrying and asking higher premiums. So scary thin that it’s hard to say if he is just a great actor, of if the skeletal boniness is carrying the performance.Jennifer Jason Leigh is inexplicably hot for Skeletor here, too. As a hooker with a heart of gold, or maybe a heart of brass, she’s OK but would even a HwaHoG not be skeeved by a walking anatomy lesson? She does abused and amused tolerance well enough, but it’s not much of a role, really. Even less so, the other woman in Trevor’s life, the waitress at the airport diner. Again, what a woman would see in a guy who looks like the Crypt Keeper is hard to register, and would you leave your child in the care of a Walking Dead? Doubtful.I always like seeing Michael Ironside, though. He lends that little air of simmering to even a small part like this one. Of course, none of the supporting players can compete with Bale’s exposed ribcage and knobbly spine. So, on to theSPOILER ALERT. Read no farther to avoid spoilage….Hasn’t this concept been covered better in the much more amusing “Fight Club”? I was trying to figure out what Trevor Reznik is an anagram for, but I kept getting sidetracked by Tyler Durden. It’s pretty much the same deal, except that neither Brad Pitt nor Edward Norton bothered to diet themselves down to their bones and gristle. I don’t really see why Christian Bale felt it necessary to do the role as an animated skeleton. To show desperation and insomnia and paranoia, I guess, but I’ve known a few insomniacs, fewer desperate types, and maybe one true paranoid. None of them looked as severe as Christian Bale in “The Machinist”.Was it really necessary for Bale to drop fifty pounds? Or was he showing off? “Look what I’m willing to do for my art!” Almost seems more like a stunt than dedication to the Method. I’d have been perfectly able to see that Trevor Reznik was in bad shape with just a sallow face, baggy eyes and maybe the shakes. All of which can be done with makeup and acting and keeping his shirt on. Instead of endangering one’s health. Was this kind of emaciation that necessary to the story?Still, it’s an interesting movie, it has a satisfactory ending, and nobody can doubt Bale’s commitment to the role. There’re some good bits of ordinary acting by the rest of the cast, the ultra-creepy “funhouse” was a nice touch, and the atmosphere of paranoid suspense was good; the color-drained, high contrast lighting was perfect for the film, the score a little too intrusive. When you’ve got a refrigerator seeping blood, you don’t really need an orchestral sting. Speaking of score, was that a real Theremin? Sure sounded like a Theremin. I suppose it was just synthesizer, but I am a sucker for the real electronic deal.And while I’m picking nits, I have actually worked in industrial settings with large and potentially hazardous machines. OSHA and plant managers are very strict about “Lock-Out, Tag-Out” when doing maintenance. That is, if you’re sticking your arm into a lathe or printing press, you have to turn off the power and put an actual physical lock on the circuit breaker or lever or whatever activates the machine, so it can’t be accidentally leaned on, like poor Trevor does. And along with the lock, a big red tag that tells anybody wandering by not to mess with it, and who has the key for the lock. Which is you, if you’re reaching inside your lathe. You lock it out, you tag your lock, and then you do something foolish. It’s a pain and people complain about it, but you still have to do it. I guess The Machinist’s shop is a lot more sloppy; it’s dirty, messy and badly lit, all things you do not want to see in a well-run plant.Over Reknit! The best anagram I’ve come up with.

The obscure world of insomnia dilutes the life of protagonist Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) whose very existence seems to slowly fade into nothingness. His is an existence where sleeplessness, melancholy, and loneliness seem to rule, and his appearance supports this notion that gives the impression of either being a victim of the Nazi concentrations camps, or a dope fiend. It is painful to watch the skinniness of Trevor when he dresses himself or moves around without a shirt. His bones protrude his skin in such a manner that it is almost possible to use him for a skeletal anatomy lesson. Trevor writes down his continual weight loss on small notes that he places on the wall while it becomes possible to see his weight loss. A prostitute named Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) whom he frequently visits even tells him that if he would be any thinner he would not exist.In the opening scene Trevor rolls up a carpet with much difficulty while a pair of feet stick out the end of the carpet. After he has rolled up the carpet Trevor walks up to the window where a close up of him confirms that he has gone through some physical abuse. He drives off to some remote location on the seaside with the carpet in the back of his pickup truck. There he prepares himself to throw the carpet into the sea when a stranger who asks him, "Who are you", interrupts him. Later at home Trevor washes his hands in bleach while the camera angle from the bedroom reveals a flashlight on the bed. It looks like the flashlight that the stranger might have used a scene earlier.Trevor is a machinist at a small factory. It is a dirty, greasy, and dangerous job, but his foreman does not seem to care when he only continues to urge them to work harder and faster. The camaraderie is close between the workers who frequently play poker together, or tell each other jokes to liven up the atmosphere. However, Trevor always avoids his coworkers even when they ask him to join them for poker, as he always has other plans. His plans consist of three things while struggling with his yearlong insomnia. Trevor frequently visits the call girl Stevie, which was already mentioned, and he spends his late nights at an airport cafeteria to drink coffee and talk to the waitress that works the graveyard shift, but he always leaves at 1:30 AM. The rest of the time he spends at home where he reads and watches TV, as he endures the power of his insomnia. One of the novels that he read is Fyodor Dostoevski's The Idiot.Eventually things begin to catch up with Trevor. It all starts when he meets Ivan (John Sharian) during one of his breaks after a troublesome meeting with his boss. On a later occasion, Ivan distracts him when he is supposed to help one of his coworkers who ends up in a severe accident. Consequently, the plot begin to thicken, as Trevor's coworkers express their contempt for him, Ivan continues to put him in danger, and someone leaves a secret code in form of hangman on his refrigerator. Amidst the hazy consciousness Trevor begin to feel the affects of his sleep deprivation while he also feels that someone is on his tail. The question is who and why is someone following him, as his life begins to get more and more muddled by continuing complex problems.The Machinist presents an intriguing tale where the main character finds himself in a paranoid world and the twilights of insomnia grab his awareness. The director Brad Anderson provides a stunning effort framing several of the scenes in wonderful compositions enhanced with the cinematography by Xavi Giménez and Charlie Jiminez. These three filmmakers succeed in a brilliant way to capture the perception of Trevor, as he finds himself in a complicated situation. Another captivating facet of the film emerges through the mise-en-scene, which offers much detail to what takes place in the story. Lastly, the performance by Christian Bale is tremendous who went through a rough diet to perform the part, as he lost some 60 pounds. Altogether, the Machinist will keep the audience in thoughts while the ominous world of Trevor comes into sight, which will leave them thinking for some time after the film.

Cut and bruised and shockingly emaciated, factory worker Christian Bale stares into the bathroom mirror. He’s so thin, you could play Tea for Two on his ribcage. “Who are you?” is scrawled on a post-it note. But Bale, eaten up with guilt and deranged by insomnia, doesn’t want to know who he is. His colleagues shun him and his bosses think he’s on drugs. When Bale’s distracted at work, Michael Ironside loses most of his hand inside a lathe. It was the new guy who distracted Bale, making a throat-cutting gesture. That would be Ivan, a big black guy with a limp. Ivan, who doesn’t exist. Now his bosses are really worried about him. He confides in call-girl neighbour Jennifer Jason Leigh. But his paranoid delusions are making him jump to crazy conclusions. The gaunt Bale shed 63lbs for this role, and the closer you look the more he comes to resemble Bates Motel proprietor Anthony Perkins. It’s a typically committed performance from an undervalued actor in an uncomfortable psychodrama from Session 9 director Brad Anderson. Everything is seen from Bale’s point of view, which is somewhat distorted. If there’s a sign to be seen, he’ll misread it. The setting is an anonymous American town. It would have to be – the film was shot in Badalona, Spain. The music by Roque Banos is a clever conflation of Bernard Herrmann stylings – Psycho strings mixed with the spooky theremin strains of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

This film has been on my watchlist for years, and I finally watched it this week. It's an amazing and creative film, with an intriguing and mysterious storyline that keeps you guessing until the end. A completely unpredictable ending, with a satisfying twist. I loved it. It was bleak and dark. Christian Bale's acting is an inspiration. I would recommend this film.

"A little guilt goes a long way." So says Trevor Reznik to the waitress in the airport café at midnight.Christian Bale, who lost 63Ibs to play the part, is Trevor Reznik, the machinist in the title. He's the worker who cannot sleep, whose life is a daze, the man slowly tortured by his own living dream. Why is he so emaciated? Why cannot he sleep? Why is he plagued by sinister tricks of the mind? So many questions; what are the answers? I'm not going to spoil it by giving them here, but suffice to say that his colleague Ivan is not all that he seems. (Bale appears in every scene and his commitment to the film is clear. How he failed to be nominated for his role is beyond me.)The movie opens at its ending (so keep your eyes well-peeled). A languid pace is prevalent from the start. In his commentary, director Brad Anderson admits to Hitchcock being a direct influence in the making of this clever film - "the last Hitchcock movie never made". The colours are often dark, almost black/white in places with many of the colours leached out; much of it was shot at night. Sinister and curious tropes appear, such as the game of hangman, photographs from a past that was not lived, memory problems, paranoia, nosy old landladies, and cars coloured red. Just what is real and what is not? (The very useful director's commentary will point out clues that you may have missed.)The Hitchcockian feel extends to the score, written by a Spanish composer but in the style of Bernard Herrmann. There are repetitive harp figurations and deep long breathing in the strings; even the sound of the theremin is resurrected. Anderson says that the film is "a parable about guilt". It's not a horror movie; rather it is a dark drama a la Kafka. Indeed, the screenwriter was inspired by Kafka and Dostoyevsky, and there are references to the latter in the film: Reznik is reading "Crime and Punishment" (nudge, nudge: clue!).Because Brad Anderson had difficulties raising money in the States for his movie, it was shot in Barcelona and Andorra. But you'd never guess! This was such a surprise to me when it was explained by the director in his commentary. This explains the presence of the Spanish composer, the Spanish DoP, the French production designer, and so on. The team has performed marvels in translating the production into a convincing American milieu from a European base.As well as the director's commentary, the extras also include a 25-minute interview with Brad Anderson, a 25-minute "making of" (with interviews with the actors and some of the production team), and some deleted scenes.

How have I only just seen this? This is the best film I've seen in ages and I take my hat off to Christian Bale! The film is atmospheric, weird, interesting and creepy. The soundtrack adds to the atmosphere and it does a great job of looking at the world of mental health. What Christian did for this film is remarkable and I had so much empathy for the character who was severely emaciated and suffering from insomnia.Jennifer Jason Leigh was fantastic in this too! I recommend this to film lovers and cannot understand some of the poor ratings. If you liked fight club, watch this!!

There is a touch of film noir to THE MACHINIST, and a lot of Alfred Hitchcock, but mostly it is a very good mystery story that attempts to throw you off the scent by a series of shocks. The "hero", brilliantly played by Christian Bale, is obviously not a well-man, but why? How much of what we see is happening, and if it is happening is what we are seeing the actual event? Those of you driven mad by CACHÉ with its missing clues and multi-answer ending will find THE MACHINIST much better value. It shows you everything but in Eric Morecombe style not necessarily in the right order. This is a thoroughly good film if you like working out puzzles; the music is especially effective, and the acting universally excellent.