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The Machinist
Directed by Brad Anderson. Story: An insomniac factory machine operator begins to lose the plot due to lack of sleep. Running Time: 1hr 42 minutes. Certificate 15.
Some movies come and go without you even noticing them being there. The Machinist is one of those movies, which is a shame as it's far fresher and compelling than many a headliner.
I think The Machinist is a great film and I expect most people will enjoy it too. There isn't much action and if you want to make sense of it, you do have to concentrate all the way through, so it won't appeal to everyone. The mounting confusion will also understandably turn some people off, but if you can live through that - say, if you liked Memento or Vanilla Sky - then I recommend The Machinist wholeheartedly. In the world of insomniacs, The Machinist deserves to be a sleeper hit. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: A little boobage from Jennifer, one or two "ewwww" gory moments. To enjoy this film you should: persevere through the confusion.
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Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Ironside.
Christian Bale should write a slimming book. He lost 63 pounds to play insomniac Trevor Reznik - that's 4 and a half
stone - and as a result he wouldn't look out of place in Dawn of the Dead. Gaunt, icy and wizened, Bale delivers one
of the finest performances of his life, cleverly and convincingly portraying a man coming loose at the seams.
After an unpleasant incident at the factory where he works, Reznik suspects a conspiracy against him as strange and
dangerous things start happening to him. It's clear from the outset that some kind of mental dysfunction is involved,
brought on by his inability to sleep,
but we are kept wondering along with the increasingly desperate Trevor about the degree and depth of his delusions.
The strange things that happen are relatively inconsequential - a mysterious post-it note, a mislaid photo, just the
sort of everyday occurrences that make us all occasionally doubt our own memories. The more irrational the
incidents become, the deeper Trevor sinks into suspicion, dumping him into a pit of distrust from which there is
seemingly no escape. Difficult stuff, but immensely compelling thanks mostly to Bale's skeletal performance.
The Machinist is shot largely in a washed out bluey grey, mimicking the machinery with which Reznik works all night,
giving the film a broody, clinical feel. This is most evident in his apartment, which is where we see Trevor
without his public face on and thus at his most unhinged. When out and about, he becomes a superficially nice guy,
visiting the airport cafe and seeing his hooker/friend Jennifer Jason Leigh. Perhaps I'm a little barking myself,
but I found it easy to relate to Trevor. He's a regular, hard-working guy with his own problems that he's trying to
keep from the rest of the world. When his facade begins to crack, he comes across as crazy, but we all know that
sanity and insanity are defined only by the majority condition. Once everyone becomes crazy in the same way, that condition
becomes the new sanity. Thus Trevor clings to his reality like a limpet and we feel for him when he does. Things
get very confusing at times because we know only what Trevor knows, but somehow the ending does indeed manage to
make sense of it all, while not appearing like a cop out.
