The Machinist (DVD)

...this film was one of the ones I had chosen, & randomly enough, a film that Snarf had never seen - being in the film making industry, it is very rare that I can pick a film that Snarf has never seen, and actually gives the thumbs up!

Right, so where to start with this film, it is incredibly difficult to review, due to the story line, so first thing I should try and do is plonk it into some sort of category - I remember watching it ...
...Jacobs Ladder (1990), it has the same sort of feel to it as the aforementioned films, so I guess, I would lump it into a psychological thriller genre, how about - intelligent, thinking, psychological thriller? Yeah, that sounds pretty good, now for the difficult bit, the plot:-

~"Who are you?"~

It's night, we are introduced to Trevor Reznick (Christian Bale), we are watching through a window, he's rolling up ... more

Haven't had much time to watch films recently, but have had loads of time to buy them, so this weekend, Snarf and I decided to actually dedicate time to watching a film - this film was one of the ones I had chosen, & randomly enough, a film that Snarf had never seen - being in the film making industry, it is very rare that I can pick a film that Snarf has never seen, and actually gives the thumbs up!

Right, so where to start with this film, it is incredibly difficult to review, due to the story line, so first thing I should try and do is plonk it into some sort of category - I remember watching it around the same time that I watched π (pi (1998)) & Jacobs Ladder (1990), it has the same sort of feel to it as the aforementioned films, so I guess, I would lump it into a psychological thriller genre, how about - intelligent, thinking, psychological thriller? Yeah, that sounds pretty good, now for the difficult bit, the plot:-

~"Who are you?"~

It's night, we are introduced to Trevor Reznick (Christian Bale), we are watching through a window, he's rolling up a body in a carpet, we follow Reznick, in his pick-up truck, with body & carpet, to an industrial area. He struggles to carry the body to the edge, where he can dump it into water, his face is cut, bruised & bloodied - suddenly, it appears someone is coming, with a flash light - the suspense builds, he throws the body, but it doesn't go anywhere, it just lands a couple of feet away, so Reznick kicks it, in the hope that it will roll down the bank and land in the water, the light is getting closer, the carpet starts unravelling.

Cut to the next scene - a torch on a bed, Reznick is back home, in his bathroom, washing his hands with powder bleach, he looks up and catches a reflection of something on his wall, it's a post-it with the words "WHO ARE YOU?".

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

Reznick works on machines, I am not sure about the ins & outs of machine work, but they appear to do things like cutting and melting at his factory. Reznick is an insomniac, and claims to not have slept in a year. The only time he appears to be "happy" is when he is with Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a call girl & a waitress, Maria, who works at the airport diner.

Reznick's insomnia is beginning to have a detrimental effect on his health, he is severely underweight, and seriously emancipated - he does not remember things and starts having to leave post-it notes around his flat to remind him of things. Reznick's insomnia finally catches up, he is distracted by a co-worker called Ivan, this distraction results in a co-worker loosing his arm completely after it gets caught in a machine. During the inquest/hearing type thing, it is revealed that there is nobody named Ivan, the guy working at the machine Reznick claimed Ivan was covering is still there, as he had been all day.

From this point, Reznick's condition seriously deteriorates, he starts finding mysterious post-it notes around his flat, with partially completed hangman games, strange flashbacks occur & he becomes obsessed with proving Ivan's existence. He at one point manages to get Ivan's licence plate so tries to trace Ivan's car through the DMV - who refuse to give him the owners details, as Reznick only has a first name. Reznick's obsession goes so far, that he purposely steps in front of a car, so that he can report it as a hit & run to the police, only to find out that the number plate, make & model of the car is one that he reported stolen a year ago.

~"A little guilt goes a long way"~

Not that much actually happens in this film, but this is not to say that it won't keep your palms sweating & your pulse elevated for most of the film, I think that the time line from start to finish is probably only a couple of months (at the most), we meet Reznick as he is teetering on the brink of "madness" - well you would go mad too if you had been awake for a year.

The film is shot, written, acted and directed superbly, it is filmed in very soft, muted in colours, and the story moves along quite slowly, but you are never bored, or waiting for something to happen, as there is always some answer you are trying to find. Brad Anderson (director) as done an amazing job - the way the film is shot, really captures the depravation of sleep that Reznick is going through, everything moves slowly and gently, there are no jolty movements, which gives the whole film a sense of calm, which is how I feel when I am particularly sleep deprived, which in turn just heightens the suspense.

Christian Bale's (Howl's Moving Castle & Batman (to name a few)), performance as Reznick is mind blowing, he actually looses 28kg to reduce his body weight to just over 50kg, surviving only on a tin of tuna and an apple everyday. Bale had originally wanted to loose a further 10kg, but filmmakers protested as there were great concerns for his health. He plays the role brilliantly, actually looking severely ill in a lot of places - I don't think that they could have cast a better actor for this role, as this film could have potentially been extremely dull if the cast had not been right. Strangely enough, I actually found myself feeling really sorry for Bale's character, I felt real pity for him when all the pieces started to fit together.

~"If you were any thinner, you wouldn't exist"~

I would highly recommend this film to anyone in a heartbeat, it is truly a work of genius, the story is immensely clever & the twists are completely unexpected, but in a way, so obvious you would never spot them, I really have tried not to go into too much detail, because any little thing could give away a bit of the plot, whilst watching for the first time, and potentially spoil it for you.

This film was rated a 15, which I think is a fair rating, although, an 18 would also have been a fair rating, the sight of Bale's emancipated body is horrific and really quite disturbing, there is nothing that is actually violent about this film, but it is quite disturbing, just to see a person's health and sanity deteriorate so quickly and to such an extreme. Although this is suitable for 15 year olds (according to the rating) I am not sure that they will understand the sheer genius that has been put into this film, they may just be bored by it, this is not about gore, or blood, or action, but about the person (as a human being) who the story revolves around.  

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