(2004) ****Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a machinist working in a perpetually grey, dismal, industrial Los Angeles. He hasn't been able to fall asleep for a year, during which something has been mercilessly gnawing at him, and we join the story as things are about to reach the breaking point. Like Reign of Fire, I had seen this before and enjoyed more this time around.
What immediately grabs you is the amount of weight Bale lost to make this movie. It's quite freakish, making Tom Hanks's Cast Away transformation look like tea and crumpets. I recalled this shot below being particularly creepy the first time I saw it, because the movement makes it clear you're looking at a person but for a moment you can't make out exactly which part. One person comments "if you were any thinner, you wouldn't exist," and the story's problem seems to operate on that fundamental a level. This is a man who has been reduced to haunting himself.
The Machinist is an extrememly potent mood piece, potent like a double expresso. Several times we see Trevor aaaaalmost drift off to sleep, and his dire need to do so is so real you want to tiptoe around saying "shh!" But he continually doesn't manage to do so, and his paranoia increases. As Trevor attempts to navigate the pale, hostile world he lives in, Bale's tense performance is accompanied by theramin-weird music and skillful cinematography that manages to find poetry in the most mundane images.
Although he's well-read, Trevor is not a man of particular wit or style. He's just an average guy who is suffering from a nameless dread. That I was disappointed when I saw this the first time was mostly a function of enjoying the namelessness of that dread. As in Jacob's ladder (also better on the second viewing), the array of possibilities is so vast (is he dead? in Hell? in a coma? insane?), that picking just one of them feels limited. Often a mystery is more interesting than the answer, even if the answer is a good one. Knowing how this ended I found it quite effective, and felt a strength to the story's emotional component that I'd missed the first time around.
As I'm judicious about what's okay to reveal, I really can't tell you anything. You may find this movie to be a bit style-heavy and substance-light for your tastes, but I recommend you find out.
4 comments:
Excellent! I was just thinking about this film recently. I copied it a long time ago but never watched it. Is there an "ending" that makes sense? Is there a moment where you go, "Ah, so that's what's going on"? Before I invest time into it I just want to ensure that it actually has a beginning, middle, and end. I've grown a bit tired of Lynch over the past decade due to the murkiness of his films. While I "get" that his stuff is about more than linear storytelling, I must profess a general lack of interest in films that are left up to "my interpretation". Spoon feed it to me, baby!
Fear not! You will be completely satisfied on that score. This director is more Cohen bros. than he is Lynch, although he's original enough that neither comparison is all that accurate.
I'm glad to hear this is good. I just threw this on my Netflix queue a few day ago. After reading your review, I'm ready to move it to the top, or maybe just borrow JPX's copy. Just my looking at the images I can already tell I'm hooked.
Your review was great! It grabbed me and did not give anything away.
I agree w/Whirlygirl - very good balance on selling the movie without any major reveal
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