Der Maschinist

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.

THE MACHINST (2004) ***1/2 Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, Reg E. Cathey.

'Thinner' meets 'Memento' by way of 'Angel Heart' a la Hitchcock

There are a few select actors who have gained or shed weight to make a true transformation on screen but the one that will probably remain imprinted for years to come is the truly shocking display by Christian Bale who lost a whopping 63 lbs. to a skeletal shell of 120 for his portrayal of dank creepy perfection.

Bale stars as the afflicted Trevor Reznik, a shell of a man who works in a machine factory and apparently is nursing some horrible demon that has led to his astonishing appearance, ghostly pallor and paranoia soaked delusions that call to question his amazing confession: How can a man not sleep for an entire year and waste away to a shadow of his being and keep his sanity?

The answer isn't so transparent as Reznik becomes submerged in some sort of dreamscape nightmare of conspiracy theories and the innate distrust of his own mind playing tricks on him one night when he encounters the perpetually grinning Ivan (Sharian sporting the sharkiest Cheshire Cat smile in recent film memory) an apparently new shift employee who distracts him to the point of a horrific accident that causes his employer and co-worker to mistrust him and suspect his deteriorating looks as something a tad more sinister.

Reznik's only solace is in literally a mother-whore relationship he shares with a well-meaning lovely waitress (Sanchez-Gizon) at the airport diner he frequents as much as the hooker he lies with to express his thoughts and odd happenings (Leigh in her umpteenth whore role that must have filled her quota by now).

After the accident Reznik is plagued with a series of Post-Its sporting a game of hangman that leads to a few clues to his rationale and ultimately to his fate of 'Who Am I?'

Directed by Anderson who helmed the criminally underrated spooky horror flick 'Session 9' a few years back returns to a dark story of a man clearly unraveling and destroying himself in the process that echoes Stephen King's 'Thinner' by way of the identity crises of 'Memento' and the psychological thriller 'Angel Heart' yet invokes a sharply executed script by Scott Kosar (who penned the worthy remake of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' last year) that recalls David Fincher meets David Lynch paroxysms of fate and the build up to a discovery that is all too recognizable to the thriller genre in recent years of identity masked as phobic reality with its latter day Hitchcock everyman skewed nicely. Kudos to cinematographers Xavi Gimenez and Charlie Jiminez for its bleak, green/grey drudgery and the Herrmannesque score by Roque Banos mixes perfectly to the dread at hand displays.

Bale went above and beyond the call of duty in his somewhat controversial display of Holocaust invoking demeanor yet it works shockingly well as it delves into the troubled soul of a man who is wasting away not only as a metaphor but as a penance for some hell to pay.

The Machinist is an instant classic.

A riveting descent into madness with Christian Bale bringing his A game. Bale wastes himself away to 120 lbs of a haunting and creepy shell of a man both visually disturbing and compelling. The story ambles along laden with foreshadowing and clues keeping the viewer involved in the mystery.

Not much needs to be said except "Brilliant." Well constructed and nuanced atmospheric film that will be viewed 50 years from now and not lose anything; maybe only to be elevated as an example of filmmaking at its best.

It's easy to draw a parallel to Hitchcock; but maybe it is closer to the truth that The Machinist is a movie that he would have evolved to make if he had lived longer. Hitchcock would have been fascinated by Bale and his extreme dedication to his craft. My imagination takes me away to a place where Hitchcock has just finished watching The Machinist and feels just a small pang of envy...followed by an immediate call to Bale's agent for casting in his next movie. If wishes were horses...

a memorable character. his sin. his truth. an one of the most fascinating roles for Christian Bale. The Machinist reminds Crime and judgment. but it is not an adaptation. only a great trip in heart of strange existence, obscure crisis of a man who , step by step, becomes a shadow. a film about truth. as revelation. as key of freedom and source of sense. a film about love but not exactly in the terms of Raskolnikov - Sonia's terms. admirable exercise about honesty. and about the cage of the past. a film who must see it. for artistic virtues. for inspired script. for performances. and for a motif who remains secret long time after its end.

Trever Reznick is an industrial machine operator who hasn't slept in a year and feels as if he is going crazy. A horrible accident in the workplace causes him to fall further down the spiral. Is there a conspiracy against him or is he going insane? The lead character is played with discomforting perfection by a repulsively thin and unrecognizable Christian Bale. This is a very moody and atmospheric film that is reminiscent of Lynch (though, by the end, it is a much more spelled-out than Lynch would do for the viewer). Still, it is a very gripping and disturbing movie. "The Machinist" is one of the better horror films released this year. My Rating: 8.5/10