The Machinist
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Movie Reviews of The Machinist
Movie Review: A Dark and Somber Maze of Altered Reality
Summary: 5 Stars
THE MACHINIST is a mesmerizing film, a journey through the interstices of a mind deprived of sleep, of nourishment, and a mind that struggles to untangle the chaos of a past of guilt and terror. And the journey is terrifying.
When the film opens we meet Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) or at least the emaciated, tortured remains of a man who hasn't slept for a year. We don't know why this worker in a machine factory is in such condition: the story unwinds slowly so that by the end we accompany Reznik in his shock to his moment of discovery. It is the getting there that is the tough beauty of this amazingly rich film as written by Scott Kosar and directed by Brad Anderson.
The setting is always dark as though the state of mind is a nightmare. Reznik's meager existence is challenged when he is involved in an industrial accident in which a fellow worker Miller (Michael Ironside) loses an arm. Shocked by the accident (for which Reznik feels responsible) the various few people in his life seem supportive: a hooker named Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a waitress in an airport all night diner Marie (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), and an ambiguous bald man Ivan (John Sharian) who appears to Reznik in strange ways.
Reznik's mind slowly disintegrates into paranoid delusions, the only way he can hold his life together is by post-its reminding him first of his documented progressive weight loss, then of his needs, then of his secret mystery. To say more would be a great disservice to the extraordinary plot.
Christian Bale delivers one of the most committed performances on film. He not only physically inhabits Reznik with his skeletal appearance, he also mentally nurtures all the nuances of fear, pain, pleasure and madness that build as his character's reason for a year of insomnia is revealed at the very end. We stand in suspense with him and his fall is as powerful as any Dante ever devised. The entire cast is superb but special kudos go to Jennifer Jason Leigh who finally has a role that allows her to demonstrate the spectrum of skill she possesses as an actress. Not an easy film, this, but a very important one. Highly recommended - but not to see alone! Grady Harp, June 05
Movie Review: Excellent entertainment at several levels.
Summary: 5 Stars
This performance by Christian Bale would be hard to match. His acting is superb as he plays the role of Trevor, a machinist who has not been able to sleep for year and is only beginning to put the pieces together to understand why he is mentally falling apart. I found this performance superior to his great work in American Psycho. In the Machinist he msut play a mentally ill man, unable to remember much of his past, unable to remember some trama that has resulted in his inability to sleep for over a year. His ability to transform his body to play this part was incredible.
The plot is excellent in that as Trevor begins to sort out hallucination from reality and to sort out memories from living nightmares, so too is the audience trying to make sense of the film and the trama that may have stimulated Trevor's inability to sleep. Gradually we learn what is one of Trevor's waking dreams and what is reality starting to break through. However, even a series of waking dreams give clues to Trevor's true state of mind and the possible underlying reasons as to why he is paranoid and can't sleep for over a year. In other words, every hallucination, though it may be frighful, leads Trevor and the viewer toward some deeper truth about his condition.
In the end, the viewer is not left hanging, the pieces do come together. It is a super psychological thriller.
Before ending this review, I must comment on the superb cinematography and art direction in the film. When filming a psychological drama, camera angle, the interplay of dark and light, the framing of scenes to create anxiety or disqust are all part of the cinematographer's art. In this film the camera work could not be better. It significantly adds to the story line and acting and makes this product get 5 stars. Also, the art direction was fantastic, keeping the film within a dark grey range of color with only pale flesh adding any warmth to the screen.
Movie Review: excellent movie with a confusing ending
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of those suspense flicks where you have to pay *complete* attention to every single detail leading up to the conclusion or you'll REALLY be lost. In my case... well, I was lost by the conclusion because I didn't understand what actually happened. I didn't understand the ending.
To put it another way- throughout the film you witness unusual events, and eventually the puzzle pieces slowly unravel a little bit at a time.
Christian Bale's character is really convincing and delivers perfect edge of your seat suspense. You keep wondering if he's losing his mind because of his evergrowing refusal to eat any food resulting in his body growing skinnier and alarmingly weaker by the day, and where the hangman parts of the storyline are heading (you'll understand what I mean when you watch it). You see, Bale's character would return home from work and constantly see hangman drawing on his refrigerator door, and he'd need to fill in the letters and put the body parts on the hangman in order to solve the clues.
I have to admit, I really didn't get the ending. I don't want to spoil the puzzle pieces leading up to the conclusion because it's inappropriate to ruin storylines for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask a question in the next paragraph pertaining to the storyline, and I warn everybody who hasn't seen the movie yet- do NOT read this next part of my review because it's a spoiler-
My main question is- who WAS that bald headed guy (John Sharian's character) who'd occasionally make an appearance? Was he just a hallucination the entire time? He was the character responsible for my confusion. I believe I understood the rest of it. Then again, if he was a crucial part of the storyline, maybe the entire thing went completely over my head. Who knows.
Movie Review: Astonishing....Disturbing....Entertaining....what more can you ask for???
Summary: 5 Stars
Some people feel that there is no need for judgement after death, or a place called "hell" for those who fail the test....we humans create a very effective living hell for ourselves right here on earth when guilt and self-loathing take over our lives.
So it is with Trevor Reznik. He has not slept (or apparently, eaten) for a year...he has lost 63 lbs. and looks like a concentration camp inmate. His eyes, mind, and life are a haunted, paranoid wasteland. Starvation, lack of food, and monumental guilt lead him, quite understandably, to hallucinate...but it is not clear where the fantasy ends and reality begins.
As with most hallucinations, there is a grain of truth and reality concealed within each, and it is up to the viewer to assimilate the tangled visual inputs and gradually come to a realization of the true nature of Trevor's plight. We come to like Trevor, he is basically a good person, and I found myself sincerely hoping that his situation would be favorably resolved and that he could finally eat, sleep, and return to "normalcy".
I will not provide the answer to this question...to do so would destroy some of the suspense of the movie, but I will say that the ending ties up all loose ends (unlike so many psychological thrillers) and you will fully understand the underlying causes and meanings of all that you have seen.
I strongly recommend this movie to all who value and enjoy intelligent, challenging, complex stories such as Mulholland Drive, The Jacket, 21 Grams, and Memento....you will not be disappointed; indeed, in many ways it is superior to these movies. The acting, direction, music, and cinematography are first class, and the story line is absolutely superb.
Take a walk in Trevor Reznik's shoes....it promises to be a haunting, memorable journey.
Movie Review: Human Being As Flawed Machine
Summary: 5 Stars
Many movies take us into existentialist nightmares, though most are not this stylish. You know the drill - lots of black, white, gray and blue, steel, concrete, chrome, and glass, no natural materials, no warmth, no light, only the suffering protagonist.
The Machinist falls neatly into this category, but unlike so many of them, it has a point, it is going somewhere, there is an "aha" moment that makes sense of this descent into hell. That's worth knowing because the world you enter is dark indeed. Trevor, the Machinist, cannot sleep, and it is killing him. As has been reported elsewhere, Christian Bale shed 63 pounds to play this part, 63 pounds he didn't have to spare. He looks cadaverous, haunted.
As we are drawn into his private and desperate existence we wonder, as he does, if he is really losing his mind completely or just having a terribly difficult time. Both Jennifer Jason Leigh and Aitana Sanchez-Gijon are wonderful, offering tantalizing glimmers of hope. Part of the intrigue of this movie is that we experience Trevor's struggles as he does, and we begin to suspect some undercurrent just as he does, our level our understanding never gets ahead of his. We wonder, as he does, if he is the victim of some truly devious conspiracy, there seems to be so much evidence.
Then we wonder, as he does, if the truth might be something less spectacular, but far more chilling, much closer to home. Trevor's world is so extreme, and so relentlessly painful, that it can only be explained by something ghastly, something unthinkable. It is. There is nothing funny or warm to be found here, but The Machinist is a brilliant film featuring an astounding performance by Christian Bale. If you're not afraid of the dark, you will find it riveting.