It's one of those movies that you admire more than you enjoy, but Anderson and Kosar are clearly talents to watch.
The Machinist (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:131
Fresh:98
Rotten:33
Average Rating:6.6/10
Consensus: A suspenseful low-budget thriller where Christian Bale completely inhabits his role.
Synopsis: Christian Bale delivers one of cinema's most sacrificial performances in Brad Anderson's mesmerizing thriller. Written by Scott Kosar (2003's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE), THE MACHINIST takes place... Christian Bale delivers one of cinema's most sacrificial performances in Brad Anderson's mesmerizing 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 colorless 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. [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Michael Ironside, John Sharian
Director: Brad Anderson
Director: Brad Anderson
Screenwriter: Scott Kosar
Producer: Julio Fernandez
Composer: Roque Banos
Studio: Paramount Classics
Reviews for The Machinist
It's well made and involving, and Bale is obviously committed to bringing this desperate character to life.
A stunt that didn't merit Bale's startling, and dangerous, transformation.
Bale’s weight loss is no acting gimmick, but merely the most extreme aspect of what is truly an astonishing performance.
Bale is totally convincing, if not especially endearing, as the sleep-challenged title character. If it's true that Oscar can't resist a likable actor in a self-punishing role, this one is going to be hard to top come February.
The physical terror, at the very least, makes the intended impact. That's more than can be said for this well-crafted, but overall unremarkable psychological thriller.
Though Bale deserves all the credit that can be heaped at his feet ... there is far more to this sinister psychological thriller than just exhibiting Bale's emaciated form.
It would be easy to accuse Bale of a warped kind of egomania if his performance wasn't so mesmerizing.
Anderson definitely has a flair for creating a diffuse sense of fear, paranoia, and mental illness onscreen.
It is not for everyone -- it is difficult to watch, sad to contemplate and not altogether successful. Nonetheless, it is worth seeing for Bale's performance.
Low-budget, high-shiver horror film is anchored by Christian Bale's unsettling portrait of insomnia.
The problem with relying on a second viewing is that, the first time out, it's really tough to identify with Reznik in any way.
Trevor Reznik. Machinist. Insomniac. A man wracked with guilt who can only find redemption ... in the Twilight Zone.
The story, which should strip down scarily like Reznik, starts to bulge and wander pretentiously.
Mainly this is all Bale's show. He is strangely sympathetic, taking us right into Trevor's pain without any special pleading.
A superior exercise in mood and atmospherics, a drama that springs from a place of deep disturbance.
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