Christian Bale, you are sir, are insane
This here is a film I’ve been meaning to watch for ages. I don’t regret it. This movie is the most accurate representation of insanity that I’ve ever seen. Forget your Fight Club, forget your Inception. Ben Anderson’s The Machinist is madness and isolation at its darkest core. Christian Bale gives one of the most riveting performances I’ve ever seen from an actor in a story that I can’t ruin. Insomnia, desolation, and self-destruction plague a haunted man as he slowly loses his mind. This film will leave you wondering to its very end: Just who is Ivan?
The film revolves around Trevor Reznik, the titular machinist who hasn’t slept a night in over a year. His life is a simple one: Go to work at his machining plant, have sex with his hooker girlfriend, and clean his bathroom, repeat. Until he meets a man named Ivan. From there, his life and mind slowly spiral out of control. As he loses his grip and becomes more and more unstable, the pieces slowly start to line up. It’s not a mystery so don’t bother trying to solve it. We’re watching Trevor try to solve the mystery of his life. The film is ultimately heartbreaking as well as disturbing. This film will keep your attention start to finish with Trevor’s antics.
This film is gray, dark and depressing in its cinematography. The style is very solid and cuts through your sense of normality. It takes a toll to get all the way through, but the visuals are striking enough to pull you along. The music is used sparsely for atmosphere, which really kicks the creep factor up a notch. The whole experience does more than any other film of this type that I have seen. While Memento may have invented this type of film making, I believe The Machinist has perfected it.
Bale is an absolute force in this film. His performance, as well as his physical dedication to the role is astounding. He lived off of an apple and a cup of coffee a day all throughout prep and filming. This Method actor brings a stark grittiness and reality to the plight of Trevor.
I mean, five stars. You know what? I’m adding a new feature here: The Machinist is officially the first film on my essential viewing list. That means that if you’re a film buff, you SHOULD watch this film at least once. Case closed; this film is an epic journey into the mind of a sick man through his own demons, blurring the line between the world and himself.