The Machinist: December 2012

The Machinist Movie Critic reviews

Ultimately, there's less than meets the eye to Brad Anderson and Scott Kosar's Twilight Zone variation on SPIDER (2002), David Cronenberg's icy adaptation of Patrick McGrath's slippery novel of mental disintegration. But the film's persuasively doom-haunted atmosphere and star Christian Bale's astonishing transformation into an emaciated walking skeleton — he lost nearly a third of his normal body weight before starting the film — are hypnotic, in a roadkill, rubbernecking sort of way. Afflicted by insomnia and shedding weight daily, machine operator Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) is gradually drifting into a murky, waking-dream state in which everything simultaneously seems hazily unreal and too vividly intense to bear. Trent's eyes are retreating back into their sunken sockets and his clothes hang from his gaunt frame. "If you were any thinner, you'd disappear," he's told more than once, just in case you failed to mark those words the first time. He's haunted by paranoid suspicions that may not be entirely baseless — someone, after all, is leaving neatly pencilled games of Hangman around Trent's gloomy apartment, teasing him to fill in the blanks — _ _ _ _ E R — before the noose tightens around the forlorn little stick-figure's scrawny neck. Trent's nosy landlady, Mrs. Shrike (Anna Massey), thinks he's losing his grip, while lightly battered hooker Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) sees a fixer-upper worthy of her heart of gold. Tormented by creepy new colleague Ivan (John Sharian) and shunned by the rest of his coworkers after an accident that costs drill-press operator Miller (Canadian exploitation stalwart Michael Ironside) his arm, Trent grows increasingly introverted. Isolated at work and too wired to stay home, he finds refuge at an all-night airport diner, drinking coffee and not eating the pie sweet-natured waitress Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) serves up with a side of soothing conversation. But Trent's jittery obsessions have sent poisonous tendrils of mistrust into every corner of his ever-diminishing world, and Marie's sunny optimism can't keep his demons at bay. The film's middle third is a repetitive slog, but Anderson, cinematographer Xavi Gimenez and composer Roque Banos whip up a fog of atmosphere that goes a long way toward obscuring the material's fundamental slenderness. Anderson is a master of detail, from the film's ubiquitous fish motif to the elaborate carnival set piece that unfolds inside the claustrophobic confines of a spook-house ride called "Route 666." The punch line isn't really good enough to justify Bale's queasy-making physical transformation but really — what could?

------Maitland McDonagh

The Machinist Movie Cast and Crew

Cast :
Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón

Crew :
Director : Brad Anderson
Writer : Scott Kosar

Others:
John Sharian as Ivan

Michael Ironside as Miller

Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Jackson

Reg E. Cathey as Jones

Anna Massey as Mrs. Shrike

Matthew Romero Moore as Nicholas as Matthew Romero.

The Machinist Movie Trailer

The Machinist was well-received by critics. It was produced by the Fantastic Factory label of Filmax and Castelao Productions.

The Machinist Movie Review

The Machinist is definitely not for everyone. But for those who enjoy movies that make them feel like they were smashed across the face with a 2x4 The Machinist is just what the doctor ordered. If there is one word to describe The Machinist, it's bleak, in every sense. The story is that of Trevor Rezink, who for all intents and purposes is in a literal living hell. He hasn't slept in a year, and looks like a living skeleton. He spends his days as a souless drone in a machine shop (hence the title) and his nights with a whore (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Amazingly things actually take a turn for the worse. He's framed for an accident at work, creepy ass cryptic post-it notes appear in his home (these are in addition to the creepy ass cryptic post-it notes he himself writes), he becomes convinced his co workers are plotting his downfall, and starts to think his friendly neighborhood whore is in on it. He starts having horrid hallucinations. Then to top all that off Micheal Ironside starts menacing him, and if there is one thing we've learned from Total Recal it's when Michael Ironside is on your case you had better watch out.

The Machinist is an incredible achievement. The plot is sharp, and carries with it the rarest of things in movies nowadays, a twist that doesn't insult your intelligence. Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Ironside are all great. Oh and Bale's physical transformation? Believe the hype. Bale looks like a skeleton dipped in wax. To put it simply, Robert DeNiro's transformation in Raging Bull is no longer the bar.The style of the movie is amazing, it's so washed out and bleak (there's that word again) that it’s nearly black and white. The direction by Brad Anderson is top notch. Anderson is best known for the cult horror film Session 9 and is such skillful director that I managed not to projectile vomit when David Caruso appeared on screen in it. Here he uses that skill to immerse you fully into Reznick's world. Now that David Fincher seems to be on an extended hiatus, he leaves behind a niche Anderson could fill. I foresee big things for him.All of this is great, but something is gnawing at me. As I said, The Machinist's success is merely partial. The bitch of it is I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong. The film is simply less then the sum of its parts. I found myself saying "Wow Bale's transformation is amazing, but was it worth it to do that to yourself for this movie?" Now don't get me wrong, as I said I genuinely like this film, it's a smart little creeper that you'll continue to think about long after you've left the theater. But.... remember that huge list of films I started off this review with? Go back to it, and if you haven't seen them all, take the money you'd have spent on The Machinist, go to a video store and fill out the holes on your list. Good though The Machinist is, those films do what it does, only ten times better.

Still, I haven't seen a film that I felt so sure would become a cult classic since Donnie Darko. Mark my words: Angry 15 year olds with dyed black hair and Cannibal Corpse shirts shall rent this until the end of time. They will scowl and nod. Critics (paid ones anyway) are going to explode with happiness, and The Machinist will probably turn Anderson into a big time director. When that happens, I’ll still think there’s something missing, something intangible, a note not played. Great films of this genre have made me question the very nature of my reality. The Machinist gave me a more thoughtful than usual walk to my car. There's a difference here, it's almost intangible, a tendancy to just wallow in darkness and despair rather then examine it or say anything thoughtful about it, and the film is all the poorer for it.