El maquinista (2004)

Director:

Brad Anderson

Writer (WGA):

Scott Kosar (written by)

Release Date:

11 November 2004 (Germany)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

How do you wake up from a nightmare, when you're not asleep?

Plot:

An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity

Plot Keywords:

Post It | Insomnia | Machinist | Hallucination | Bath

Awards:

7 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Christian Bale	...	Trevor Reznik
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Stevie
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón	...	Marie
John Sharian	...	Ivan
Michael Ironside	...	Miller
Larry Gilliard Jr.	...	Jackson (as Larry Gilliard)
Reg E. Cathey	...	Jones
Anna Massey	...	Mrs. Shrike
Matthew Romero Moore	...	Nicholas (as Matthew Romero)
Robert Long	...	Supervisor Furman
Colin Stinton	...	Inspector Rogers
Craig Stevenson	...	Tucker
Ferran Lahoz	...	Gonzales
Jeremy Xido	...	Evangelisti
Norman Bell	...	DMV Clerk

Also Known As:

The Machinist (International: English title) (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and disturbing images, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

101 min | Turkey:94 min (TV version)

Country:

Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

New Zealand:M | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | Germany:16 | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18PL | Malaysia:U (cut) | Hungary:18 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:R-18 | Canada:18+ | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:16 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:18A (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

Company:

Filmax Group

Trivia:

Brad Anderson wanted his film to have the same kind of visual expressionistic feel as Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. (1920), Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The same RV that is in front of Miller's house, is used in another scene, where Trevor is existing the tunnel, and nearly hits an RV. It is the same RV.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Ivan: Who are you?

Movie Connections:

References Memento (2000)

Soundtrack:

Susan in the Summer

An urban nightmare with an incredible performance by Christian Bale

THE MACHINIST (Brad Anderson - Spain 2004).

Christian Bale is Trevor Reznik, a machinist in an anonymous factory somewhere in America. He is obviously scarred by some past incident but what is it? He finds mysterious notes on his refrigerator, saying 'who are you?' He sees colleagues that don't exist. He seems to have lost it completely.

A Spanish production, but with Brad Anderson at the helm as director and an almost exclusively American cast, this is basically an American film. I must admit, I kept shelving this one, due to reasons I cannot really recall now I've finally watched it, but it probably had something to do with Christian Bale's insane weight loss and all the surrounding publicity. I assumed the film was all about Bale's loss of weight and not much more. A method boy in a film solely hyped for an actor's dedication to play the part, but the film blew me away, as simple as that. Christian Bale gives a solo turn here almost unseen before. No matter how many pounds he lost, it's a remarkable performance.

Director Brad Anderson succeeds brilliantly in conceiving an atmosphere that is so compelling, as one other user on the IMDb stated, 'You just HAVE to know what the hell is going on here.' I think that's the key factor in what makes this film so incredibly compelling. The whole setting is an anonymous industrial town somewhere in the US, that could be Pennsylvania, Michigan or upstate New York (actually, it was shot near Barcelona), but it doesn't really matter where the story is located. It's the atmosphere of estrangement that does it. And Christian Bale gives such an intense performance you really want to know his cause and background. Where on earth does he come from? We know he works in a greasy factory, but why is he skin-over-bone? Why hasn't he slept in over a year? Brad Anderson creates an atmosphere so broody and sleazy, it's like a netherworld, an urban nightmare. In a certain way it reminded me of the strange urban landscape in "Eraserhead" by David Lynch.

Camera Obscura --- 9/10