Film Review: The Machinist

Director: Brad Anderson

A 2004 psychological drama directed by Brad Anderson whose more known for his TV work including the popular series Fringe. The film became renowned for Christian Bale's dramatic weight loss for the role as he shed 62 lbs to drop down to 120 lbs for the main role. He promptly regained the weight and more ahead of his next role as Batman in the Christopher Nolan series. The name Trevor Reznik is derived from Trent Reznor, the founder and primary creative force behind the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails.

Christian Bale lost 62lbs for the role

Trevor (Bale) is a machinist in a local factory who suffers from severe insomnia having not slept properly for a year. He causes an accident at the factory which sees a co-workers arm sliced off because he was distracted by a mysterious man named Ivan, he blames the mistake on Ivan distracting him but the managers of the factory say there is nobody of that name working there. Other odd events add to his paranoia like post-it notes being left on the fridge without his knowledge and hallucinations as he struggles through day to day life.

Its a film that pays homage to many famous people and films of years gone past. The ominous music that creeps in to imply a danger or threat is positively Hitchcockian whilst the plot itself has a lot in common with the works of David Lynch, especially Eraserhead with its bleak industrial background, and the Christopher Nolan film Memento. Whilst the screenwriter Scott Kosar mentions the works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky as his inspiration. 

The blood dripping from the freezer

Bale is excellent in the lead role of Trevor, in some shots early in the movie he looks emaciated. Trevor looks worse as the film progresses and his mental state diminishes Bale continues to make him look real in our minds. Questioning what is real and what is imagined by the main character as we try to work out if he is a reliable narrator for this story. The setpieces all slowly build to a truly stunning crescendo. The supporting cast are mainly there to feed into what Trevor sees without being fully developed characters themselves so Bale is very much left to carry the movie which he more than does.

3.5/4 Haunting yet clever psychodrama