No4: The Machinist

Title: The Machinist
Director: Brad Anderson
Written By: Scott Kosar
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon

An industrial worker who hasn't slept for a year begins to doubt his own sanity.

Initial Thoughts:

His:

Oh yea! This was my wife's pick but I was certainly the one who purchased this film. I have heard such great things about it, especially the transformation that Bale went through in order to play his part. The story line sounds good but I am slightly worried that thanks to the wording on the DVD box a twist plot may have been revealed that could ruin the film entirely. Lets hope not!

Hers: 

This was my pick and ironically had it been on the shelf in a shop it would probably be the last thing I would have picked up (it was hubbo’s buy) but that is the beauty of what we are doing I guess!  The blurb certainly does sound intriguing and Christian Bale can give a good performance so as we pressed play I was quite looking forward to seeing what was coming.

After thoughts:

His: 

Well that was fantastic, a really enjoyable and immersive film. From the very start it had me lost and intrigued. The very first thing that you realise is that all the comments on the commitment of Christian Bale to his part are not exaggerated, his weight loss is scary but works so well to bring us the true suffering of his character Trevor Reznik. 

The film starts with Reznik (Bale) disposing of a body. You don't know why and you don't know how it happened. All you are left with is a post it note (which becomes a plot tool throughout the film). And from this moment on I wanted to know the whole story. So its a good job the film then flashes back to explain everything.

The film was shot with very interesting lighting, using very dull colours, in some shots it almost looks black and white. During the film Bale and the other cast members do an excellent job in getting you invested in the characters feeling for them and rooting for their best interests. It does this while upping the sense of suspense and intrigue into the story.

Spoiler alert!

Unfortunately that build up is hampered slightly when it becomes clear that one of the characters is not actually their but inside the mind of Bales character. This is amplified by the statement on the box of it being similar to Fight Club. 

Having said this the reveal that more than one character is not real but also in the mind of Bale is explosive and caught me completely off guard and is wasn't until just before then end of the film that I got to what was going on just before it was fully explained on the screen.

I was very impressed by this film and will be highly recommending it to anyone who asks or even if they don't! 

Hers:

It just goes to show you shouldn’t judge a book (or DVD) by its cover and had hubbo not been the one that picked it up we would have missed out on what is actually a very good film and I do apologise if this goes on a bit! 

The film follows the story of Reznik (Bale) who is painfully thin (I mean it is actually painful to look at) and is losing weight after not having slept for a year.  Understandably all is not quite right upstairs dealing with that level of sleep deprivation!  The film starts with him wrapping up a body and attempting to dispose of it.  The film then jumps backwards in time to show us how he got there!  He works in a machine factory and after each shift goes to the airport to have a coffee and a chat with Maria the Waitress.  He is not popular at work (through events that unfold in the film) and it becomes quickly apparent that the only two people in the film he has an affinity with are Maria and Stevie (the prostitute he is regularly seeing).  A new character comes into the film (and is the root cause of the accident that tanks Reznik’s social status at work) called Ivan.

Now I interrupt my review of The Machinist to talk about another film I had successfully avoided because I didn’t like the look of it.  Hubbo introduced me to it (admittedly because of his huge overbearing man crush on Russell Crowe but I digress even further) and it swiftly became one of my favourite films of all time – A Beautiful Mind.  (**SPOILER ALERT** the following bit contains A Beautiful Mind spoilers that will irreparably ruin the story of the film for you if you read them so if you haven’t seen it and plan to don’t read on!!).  In my humble opinion when it was revealed that Charles and Marcee were not actually real people it was probably one of the biggest twists I have ever seen in a film and I kid you not that hubbo actually had to pause the film for a good 5 minutes for me to actually digest what had just happened.  And then when you watch the film back you think ‘I should have seen this coming’.  They do not interact with anyone else at all throughout their entire appearance in the film (not even bumping into anyone) but they are so well integrated into the film that the twist just comes out of nowhere (I promise this does have a point your honour). 

So bearing that in mind when the character of Ivan appears in The Machinist it was heart crushingly disappointing when it becomes painfully obvious that he is completely in Reznik’s head as the insomnia-induced paranioa really takes hold.  The reactions of those around him when he is speaking to Ivan just makes it so obvious that he is not there and I don’t honestly know if that was intentional or bad acting but it was a real disappointment for me.  However the film redeemed itself in the form of Maria and her son Nicholas with whom Reznik goes to an amusement park and spends a family day with them.  Just when I was down from the disappointment of Ivan, The Machinist straight up Beautiful Minded me with Maria and Nicholas as it turns out THEY AREN’T REAL EITHER!!!  (Well technically they are real people but they are dead, or at least Nicholas is).  Now that one I did not see coming at all and on reflection it completely made sense but I LOVED that they completely hoodwinked me on that one!   And from there it goes on with the twists and turns as it turns out Bale is the reason that Nicholas is dead following a hit and run accident and it is the weight of this guilt that started his descent into madness.

To bring a long ramble to a close, the film is excellent.  Christian Bale provides a stand-out performance as Reznik, a man slowly but surely completely losing his grip on reality through his insomnia.  Most of the other characters are pretty background apart from Maria and Stevie and one does get the sense that Bale mostly carries this film by himself but actually I think that is probably what makes it as good as it is.  They haven’t padded it out with a stellar cast rather actually relied on the performance aspect.  I personally didn’t like the cinematography but that is subjective.  It was a bit too grey for me.  I like a bit more technicolour but I concede it far more suited the tone of the film.

An excellent film and a definite keep and another apology if I rambled in there along the way (I feel the sleep deprivation thing at the moment as we are still recovering from staying up to watch the Super Bowl!!)