The Machinist

2004 nightmare

Rating: 17/20

Plot: A skinny guy, the titular factory worker, suffers from insomnia while his friends desperately try to get him to play Hangman or thrilling games of Find My Arm and eat pie.

I'll tell you what. These actors and actresses amaze me with their abilities to change my mind about them. I really hated Christian Bale without knowing that much about him. I'd never even heard of this movie because I'm really not qualified to even have a movie blog. I only watched this because my research for my Top Ten Imaginary Friends in Film list that nobody seemed to care about made me think that I needed to check it out. Bale was a good Batman and was good in American Hustle, and this performance from an earlier movie impressed me. And it wasn't just because he lost beaucoup weight and played a shell-of-a-man-type character who weighed about as much as my penis. There are times when I think the extreme weight gains or losses are cheap ways to turn in good acting performances, but there's no denying that what Bale does with his body is impressive here. The guy creates this natural special effect, and there are certain shots of his skeletal body here that are hard to watch. But it fits with the overall mood of this movie about a character doing his best to survive in this bleak purgatory. This is really the most black and white movie that isn't actually black and white that I think I've ever seen, and Bale's machinist has either a physical presence or a complete lack of physical presence that makes him its most suitable inhabitant. The storytelling is all mystery and nightmare, and you have to credit Bale with creating a character who you can sympathize with even if it's impossible to understand what's going on with him or even understand what's real and what's just figments of the imagination of a possibly unreliable movie narrator with a damaged mind. John Sharian brings a deep Southern accent, a big bald head, a creepy grin, and occasional goggles to that imaginary friend (that might be a spoiler) and really does a good job creating this great auxiliary character. And Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a prostitute. The real star of this movie, however, might be the Roque Banos score which sounds like it belongs in a Hitchcock movie and fits perfectly since this really is a neo-Hitchockian thriller. The score just feels classic, and then there's a theremin which I'm a sucker for anyway. Tons of fishing references are pieces to this puzzle that I just can't figure out, but I like 'em and they make up for bad CGI in one scene. So do Ivan's toe hands which just might end up being the most important part of my Halloween costume next year. I'm going to start eating now to put on enough weight to have Ivan's shape. If Bale can lose this much, surely I can gain that much. Oh, and that Route 666 ride? Holy hell! It's as if Coffin Joe had his way in an amusement park. This movie's really about as happy as Eraserhead, but folks who appreciate a generous helping of bleakness in their art will really like this.