A foreboding, noir-bending film of visceral, internalized tension and confusion.
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
The secret to the appeal of The Machinist is director Brad Anderson's ability to sustain an off-balanced, discombobulated mood throughout the film.
If grimly atmospheric studies in alienation are your cup of tea, you should find director Brad Anderson's dark brew especially tasty.
It's an overly calculated, schematic graph of a script that eliminates the things we go to the movies to experience: interesting characters, a story we can relate to, an emotional release.
While it's hardly a great movie, thanks to Bale's remarkable performance it's a genuinely creepy and engrossing one.
A relentless and painful reminder of concentration camp terrors and famine relief operations.
Although the primary plot line turns out to be a letdown, there are aspects of The Machinist that redeem it. Bale's performance is one; another is the dull, metallic look of the picture.
The director Brad Anderson, working from a screenplay by Scott Kosar, wants to convey a state of mind, and he and Bale do that with disturbing effectiveness.
Interesting premise, terrific performance, shocking transformation - the image of Christian Bale's skeletal appearance will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.
If the intent of Anderson, Bale and Kosar is to create empathy for their tortured character and synesthesia with his madness, then they succeed many times over.
It's a carefully layered, tautly directed and superbly acted psychological thriller.
A moody psychological thriller with a stunning performance by Christian Bale at its core.
The thing we most dread is that this existential mystery will have an unsatisfying resolution, and in this case, our worst fears are realized.
Christian Bale delivers one of the most astounding performances of the year in this exceptionally written psychological thriller. **
Smacks of a movie made by people who've spent a lot more time watching movies than absorbing them.
Needless to say, Bale goes the extra mile for the role of title character Trevor Reznick.
Anderson's effort here isn't bad, but, as measured on the scary-intruder index, this is more of a front-porch flick. Movie over, it's not hard to shut the door on it.
Riveting not only for its visuals ... it's also riddled with amusing metaphors.
Anderson struggles to maintain an emotional connection, but he crafts a remarkably sure-handed little thriller.
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Movie City News shares with us a press release from the London Film Critics Group in which their various nominations are announced. Keep in mind that the Brit crits use their... More...
November 01, 2005:
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