The Machinist, 2004

insomnia is bad

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Steeped in hard shadows and corrosive beauty, this disturbing movie depicts the shrinking inner world of an insomniac unable to bear an unexplained guilt. Filmed at in Spain at a defunct factory and among little-known cities, the settings seem archetypal but slightly alien. Gentle interludes that seem suspended in ether follow harsh blue-collar scenes like waves of anesthesia following an accident. An empathy with mental and physical pain runs like an electric current throughout this film, perhaps informed by the suffering that went into the making it: to play Trevor Reznik, Christian Bale starved himself, losing 62 pounds before the producers intervened, and director Brad Anderson directed much of the film while lying on a gurney from a hurt back. Filtered through an expressionistic blue and Spanish black color palette, muted, otherworldly theremin orchestration, and a chilly, inexorably unfolding plot working off of writer Scott Kosar's excellent Kafkaesque screenplay, this is a superb film that warrants repeated viewing.

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Bale lost a record 63 pounds to achieve his holocaust-like frame in The Machinist. 63 pounds! He ate a steady diet of one can of tuna and one apple... per day! The result is an eerie and haunting shadow of a man. Bale's performance was the icing on the cake. Watch his facial expressions in this movie, they're more evident and exaggerated than ever because his flesh is pulled so tightly over his bones. Every smile or frown or grimace reveals an aspect of the human physique that you didn't know existed. Bale can't hide anything as a skeleton. The movie itself was dark and full of paranoia. The way the plot unfolds reminds me of a Hitchcock film. Each element of the story is introduced methodically and purposefully, giving away just enough clues to keep the viewer guessing, but not enough to give up the entire story. The characters are as haunting as the sets. The score is creepy and atmospheric, but not overpowering. The DVD did a wonderful job bringing The Machinist to the small screen. The audio mix was subtle and relatively simple, but very effective. The score comes through cleanly, but doesn't overpower the film itself. The transfer was incredibly detailed with very solid black levels. I didn't see any pixelation or artifacting whatsoever. My only complaint was the slight amount of dirt on the print. As new as the film was, it was distracting at a few points in the film. The trailers for The Machinist don't give much away. Who is Christian Bale's character? Why will someone be after him? Good questions. Don't try to answer these before you see the movie. This is one I highly recommend seeing without knowing anything about the plot.

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Well, Bale definitely believed in this role to lose that weight because he was frightening looking at how thin he was. That aside, the movie itself definitely is dark, it reminded me somewhat of Jacob's Ladder in the strangeness of the setting and the people - however, the story is nowhere near as satisfying or twisted. In the Machinist I found myself getting bored with the latter half, wishing more I could have seen his descent or more of him decaying rather than just the state he was at now. I found Jason Leigh's role to be pointless (although she was good) and thought the movie really shined when he was at work with Ivan (who was great). Overall, I liked the setup and beginning but the payoff wasn't as great as I was expecting.

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Haunting, harrowing, fully depressing portrait of a man. Bale has never been better; his transformation is complete. The pacing is deliberately slow...it's agonizing in a good way. Brad Anderson hit this one way out of the park. Queue it, watch it, think about it, buy it, watch it again.

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