Willa's Flic Pic: The Machinist * * *

The Machinist
2004, Brad Anderson
Drama/Thriller
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Stevie: Are you okay?
Trevor Reznik: Don't I look okay?
Stevie: If you were any thinner, you wouldn't exist.

For Halloween I thought I would recommend a thriller since I'm not an outright fan of horror movies. The Machinist is like The Sixth Sense. You can't tell too much about it or it will ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Trevor Reznik (Chrisitan Bale) is a lathe-operator. We enter his story when all the issues in his life are coming to a climax and he appears to be cracking up. Physically, he is emaciated and hasn't slept in a year. Emotionally he's numb, edgy and unpredictable. Mentally, he's hallucinating and loosing large gaps of time.

The mood of the film is dark and dream like even though Trevor never sleeps. Since we're following the story from his point of view, we aren't sure if what we're seeing is real or imagined. He finds post-it notes on his refrigerator on which someone is playing hangman. He's seeing someone at work that no one else ever sees. What does he want and is he the one leaving the post-its? Whoever it is, it appears they know a secret about Trevor that he's terrified of.

The Machinist isn't particularly pleasant to watch. It's eerie, grimy and everyone seems suspicious. The images of Trevor's skeletal body are disturbing. I was trying to figure out how they made Bale look so emaciated. They didn't. He actually lost all of that weight for the role. Kudos to him for such a great level of commitment to his work. It adds immensely to the fascination of this film.

What I like is that the catalyst for Trevor's problems isn't a ghost, demon or psycho. It's suspenseful if a little predictable. It's a dark subject and it's dealt with in a dark style which I admire artistically. Figuring out what is happening, what is real and what isn't is part of the enjoyment.

If you would like a film with more of a Halloween flavor, you might try one of this director's other films, Session 9. My Geek talked me into seeing this film and I give it a four which means that I lost four nights of sleep after seeing it. I get creeped out just thinking about it. It's a very smart film with a great perspective and is well made. I didn't choose to review it because I don't feel qualified to judge horror. My Geek has a somewhat finer tuned eye for this genre and recommends it highly.