The Machinist

There are many good things about The Machinist that are well deserving of praise. The very atmospheric nature of the film is supported very strongly by excellent performances all around. Christian Bale takes things to the extreme in his embodiment of his character. It is hard to take seeing him in his near-starvation body mass, which elevates the tension of this piece even further. The storyline leaves a little to be desired. While it creates its mood excellently, it does tend to plod along a little too much.

One thing that does stand out is how reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock this film plays. Almost everything about the film screams Hitchcock, from the editing of certain scenes (the driving sequences are very much in the style of Psycho) to the Bernard Herrmann-esquire score (lots of bass clarinet), the lack of fully-exploring/revealing some of the creepier points of the film (what is dripping from the fridge?), and the washed out, grainy photography. If you want to see what a film would look like if Hitchcock were alive to film it today, this is the closest thing you could probably come across. And if that was part of Brad Anderson's intention in directing this, I have to commend him on the execution because it is uncanny.

Overall, I would recommend this film, but not to casual movie-goers. This is very much a movie-phile experience for those who appreciate character development and cinematography as much as plot points and a storyline that can be defined and followed from one action to the next. In that way it is closer to films like Magnolia or the Others, where the apex is the characters. If you are looking for a typical popcorn Hollywood thriller, this is not what you are looking for.

Christian Bale is Trevor Reznik, he has not slept for a year and he is ravaged by exhaustion, his body is little more than bones and his weary mind is playing tricks on him. After a serious accident where his neglect sees a co-worker lose a arm, he becomes haunted by his guilt and he begins to find cryptic notes in his flat, while he is stalked by man, wherever he goes.

Brad Anderson creates and sustains a very creepy and dark Ora throughout the film; filling it with haunting imagery and clever camera work. Christian Bale is simply mesmerising in this role, and he must have starved for months to capture the characters physical appearance. He is excellently supported by Jennifer Jason Leigh, a prostitute who seems to be the only one he can trust.

The Machinist is truly compulsive viewing and despite similarities to the feel of Fight Club and the structure of Memento; this film does stand alone on it's own merits.

8/10

Saw this incredible movie tonight and all I can say is WOW!! This movie is one you should definitely see if you enjoy such quality films like Vertigo, Psycho and most recently Identity. Massive kudos to Christian Bale who turned himself into a skeleton for the role and the wonderfully articulate pace of the director! As you watched it, you knew that there were answers at the end and the journey was simply captivating! Also fine, fine work by Michael Ironside and the absolutely gorgeous Jennifer Jason-Leigh who to this day looks just as hot as she did in Fast Times! If you have a chance to see this film and an open mind, make the trip to the ciniplex! Fantastic film!

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

I were at the local video rental place yesterday with my friend, and this piece caught our attention. It turned out to be a really good choice! After seeing it, I made the conclusion that I had been kind of "stunned" for 85% of the movie, due to that it was really hard to keep up with the story but I did percept that this was the movie's intention to do. The Machinist is a really original movie and if you thought that you liked schizophrenic movies like 'Fight Club', you'll love this one as well.

This piece does easily score 8/10 for me, and I must admit that I was really mentally tired after seeing this. With this movie, it seems that even David Lynch gets a rough time beating this piece in level of weirdness.