The Machinist

In The Machinist you’ve got a complex psychological thriller that does its best not to reveal its true colours until the final few minutes. It borrows a good deal from Memento since in both the leading protagonist is trying to make sense of a reality that seems to get more warped by the minute.

A very thin Christian Bale (you have give him massive plaudits for the way he thinned down by some 60 lbs to realise the role), plays engineering worker Trevor Reznick whose mind doesn’t seem to be on the job. Perhaps that’s due to the fact that he’s not slept properly in a year. The insomnia naturally plays a part when a co-worker loses an arm in an accident caused by Bale’s carelessness.

From then on, the film seems to take on a warped reality – many strange things happen to this errant Machinist and there are clues there to unravel if you look hard enough. The only two people Reznick decides to trust are a call-girl (Jennifer Jason-Leigh) and a waitress and single mom (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) who Reznick sees every night at an airport café.

It’s a clever film, with tremendous method acting by Christian Bale - he really puts heart and soul into the role and its quite frankly astonishing to view the weight loss he manifests on screen. It’s quite a cold film one would have to say - much of that has to do with the lighting and use of muted colours employed by the director. There are reminiscences of two of Polanski’s films The Tenant and Repulsion as well as Wim Wenders’ The American Friend in this spiraling tale of what appears to be madness coupled with a puzzling game of hangman’s noose that Reznick plays out on his fridge.

The Machinist will certainly appeal to insomniacs – watch it and you’ll see why. It’s an impressive film from the director of Next Stop Wonderland that is sure to appeal to Christian Bale fans as well as those who loved Memento.

Matt Arnoldi