Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michael Ironside

Director: Brad Anderson

Summary: Trevor Reznik is suffering from serious insomnia, and it's not long before his lack of sleep causes him to have an accident at work. Rather than his co-workers rallying around him, however, they instantly turn against him, and events only get stranger...

Christian Bale delivers one of cinema's most sacrificial performances in Brad Anderson's mesmerising thriller. Written by Scott Kosar (2003's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE), THE MACHINIST takes place in a bleak and nondescript American city, where Trevor Reznick (Bale) is quite literally withering away to nothing. During the day Trevor works in a colourless industrial factory, while at night he seeks refuge in the bed of a tender prostitute, Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh). For reasons unknown even to Trevor, he hasn't been able to sleep for an entire year. In the process, he has shed over sixty pounds, making him look like a walking skeleton. After an accident at the factory costs Trevor his job, he finds himself tracking a mysterious figure that may or may not, in fact, provide some answers to his confusion. Meanwhile, he begins to connect with a pretty airport waitress, Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), who shows Trevor some much-needed sympathy. By the time the film builds to its revelatory conclusion, it becomes quite clear just what has been tormenting Trevor all along. Anderson and Kosar's vision is brought to spectacular life by cinematographer Xavi Gimenez and composer Roque Banos, whose haunting atmospherics recall the best work of Alfred Hitchcock. And then, of course, there is Bale, whose performance is as terrifying, brave, and devastating as the screen has ever seen.

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Reviewed by: cooljimbop
Posted on July 20, 2005 2:58 PM

This thriller is haunting enough by the storyline, but seeing an almost unrecognisable Christian Bale as thin as a rake sends an extra tingle down your spine. The story in this film twists, turns and shocks and, although complex, sorts itself out very nicely by the end. However, it can sometimes be a little predictable for hardened viewers of the genre. Bale's acting is, as ever, superb and the way the film is shot makes it seem even darker and grittier. Worth re-watching this is a psychological thriller up there with Memento, with few flaws.

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As a bleak and chilling mood piece, The Machinistgets under your skin and stays there. Christian Bale threw himself into the title role with such devotion that he shed an alarming 63 pounds to play Trevor Reznik (talk about "starving artist"!), a factory worker who hasn't slept in a year. He's haunted by some mysterious occurrence that turned him into a paranoid husk, sleepwalking a fine line between harsh reality and nightmare fantasy--a state of mind that leaves him looking disturbingly gaunt and skeletal in appearance. (It's no exaggeration to say that Bale resembles a Holocaust survivor from vintage Nazi-camp liberation newsreels.) In a cinematic territory far removed from his 1998 romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland, director Brad Anderson orchestrates a grimy, nocturnal world of washed-out blues and grays, as Trevor struggles to assemble the clues of his psychological conundrum. With a friendly hooker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and airport waitress (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) as his only stable links to sanity, Trevor reaches critical mass and seems ready to implode just as The Machinistreveals its secrets. For those who don't mind a trip to hell with a theremin-laced soundtrack, The Machinistseems primed for long-term status as a cult thriller on the edge. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	None
Year:	2004
Release Date:	July 4, 2005
Runtime:	98 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	H F D 8574
Keywords:	General, Thriller, Psychological, Machinist
Genre:	Thriller