The new Batman goes beyond the call of duty in Brad Anderson's all-consuming The Machinist
In order to play drill press operator Trevor Reznik in The Machinist, Christian Bale lost 63 pounds off his brawny frame. This is an insane act of dedication even by the standards of De Niro’s Raging Bull or, more recently, Charlize Theron’s Monster or Renée Zellweger’s Bridget Jones; despite what entertainment TV shows may claim, gaining a few curves is less impressive than losing a third of your body weight. Bale, the underrated actor who cold-bloodedly sliced through our heartstrings in 2000′s American Psycho (and soon to be the new Batman), is definitely employee of the month: His self-sacrifice catapults The Machinist from slightly creepy seductive art-house thriller into another realm entirely.
Reznik is a blue collar, good-ol’-boy factory worker whose body, despite consuming buckets of greasy fried chicken, is devouring itself from within. His only two friends are Stevie, a somnolent prostitute (Jennifer Jason Leigh) with a special affection for her most regular client, and Marie (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), a waitress who befriends him at the airport diner where he goes every night to wait out the hours with coffee and a piece of pie. Trevor hasn’t slept for a year, you see, and his unrelenting wakefulness is starting to cause problems. In his dismal studio apartment, adorned only with a poster from Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, an active game of hangman on Post-it notes suddenly starts creeping along the wall. Then, his refrigerator begins to bleed. Are these waking hallucinations, or something more? Trevor’s attentiveness in the machine room starts to ebb, and his co-workers’ limbs are no longer safe around all those grinding, mashing gears. Before long, he makes a new friend at work that no one else can see: Ivan (John Sharian), a bald, grinning golem who cruises the streets after work in a ’69 Firebird, taunting Trevor into high-speed chases that he can’t win.
So what’s eating Trevor, anyway? His world is an industrial-lot greyscale nightmare threaded through with intermittent screams of red and punctuated by frissons of theremin and revving engines. Reznik’s emaciated form insinuates itself into every washed-out, dismally beautiful scene; he’s more like a shiver of human mercury than a man. Discomfort builds on displacement, to a symphonic climax by which point those watching want to scratch themselves free of their skin. Then, suddenly, the gears of the mystery grind to a screaming halt. By that point, though, there’s hardly any point, after all the fun we had getting there.
Director Brad Anderson (Next Stop Wonderland, Happy Accidents, Session 9) favours the slow reveal à la Hitchcock’s Vertigo rather than the quick switchback, the specialty of The Sixth Sense‘s M. Night Shyamalan. In an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, Anderson was insouciant about throwing out "spoilers" (the hated felony, as delineated by basement bloggers with time to waste on these things, in which a reviewer – or the filmmaker himself – reveals even the most trivial of plot points in the process of carrying on an actual discussion of the movie).
"It’s not that I have a ‘thing’ for the end reveal," says Anderson, whose last movie, Session 9, contained a similar drawstring plot.
"I’m a sucker for movies like Don’t Look Now, or Jacob’s Ladder, or Memento. To me, Shyamalan’s movies are a bit too broad. The twist is more twilight zone; it comes out of nowhere. I like it when the end payoff is more of an internal epiphany."
In The Machinist, our eyes are loyal to this washed-out world of confabulation, so much so that Reznik’s delusions are our own. Is there really a conspiracy against him, or is he himself the bad guy to watch out for?
"Audiences are very savvy, so you have to throw more at them," says Anderson. "They’ve seen The Sixth Sense, they’ve had the ‘Oh my God, I’m dead’ moment at the end. They might be entertaining the possibility that [Reznik] is in purgatory, and to deflect that, you have to throw red herrings at them all the time."
Still, though, Anderson wanted to do more than offer cheap thrills. More than anything, the world he built – largely without special effects – is a waking nightmare; the camera lingers ravenously on every detail of a blue-collar horrorscape so thick with atmosphere, you’d think Reznik would be able to get fat on mood alone.
"In some ways this is more interesting to me than the plot; it’s much more challenging to me as a filmmaker," says Anderson. "Tone and feeling is so much more of a subjective thing. I wanted to create something that was disconcerting, but not outright horror. We’re not going for the shockers – rather the creepy moments in between, where you’re not sure what’s happening."
Other than filter and film stock noodling, and the jittery musical score by Roque Baños, Anderson’s most effective cinematic trick by far was Christian Bale. And make no mistake, this is no key-light magic – he really is that skinny. At a screening full of jaded press and industry folk in Toronto, a shot of him bare to the waist in front of a bathroom mirror was enough to elicit gasps of disgust.
"In the script [by Scott Kosar, who specializes in remakes of old horror movies such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror], Reznik is described as a walking scarecrow," says Anderson. "But I was thinking, ‘Aah, we’ll put him in some baggy clothes, shoot him in a certain kind of light, he’ll look a little thinner, maybe lose 10 pounds.’ I would never ask any actor to do what he did; there’s no way. Sixty-three pounds is well beyond the call of duty.
"When Christian stepped off the plane in Barcelona, I was like, holy shit, he looks like an Auschwitz victim or something… I was also weirdly thrilled, because I knew that in one shot, I could capture the torment this guy has put himself through."
So how did he do it?
"It’s very simple, you just stop eating. Either that, or keep a really nasty secret."
The Machinist
12 comments
Wow, I thought I’d seen it all, but Christian Bale is absolutely captivating on screen in this one. It’s kinda like that analogy that goes like, you can’t take your eyes an accident even though you know you shouldn’t keep watching. In this sense though, you’re drawn in to live this guy’s personal torture and pain but compelled to see it through.
The Machinist takes you into the unstable mind of an insomniac with a dark secret whose life has become a bleak emotional wasteland devoted only to going through the motions of working. This movie plays out like a nightmare, and will remind many of gritty films such as Fight Club and Memento but in some ways is inferior to them. It is nevertheless a harrowing experience for those to whom this sort of story appeals.
Even for those who are able to piece together exactly what is happening before the movie explicitly reveals everything, The Machinist is still capable of capturing the attention. The film is dark, but rewarding, and it never cheats the viewer. The Machinist requires a certain kind of viewer – one who is comfortable with grimness and a certain amount of gore. Members of that group will appreciate what this picture has to offer.
for the last several days i have been feasting upon the works of alfred hitchcock – specifically rear window starring jimmy stewart and grace kelly and to catch a thief starring cary grant and grace kelly:
where hitchcock excelled was his innate ability to create tension and mood – rear window and to catch a thief are character driven pieces based upon stewart’s and grant’s character respectively driven by an all-consuming obsession to un-cover the truth regardless of the costs and sacrifices:
for christian bale this all-consuming obsession becomes extended to his sixty-three pounds loss to become the character trevor reznik (..which seems to be a play upon nine inch nails ubermind trent reznor by the way..) in the manner that keanu reeves endured several years of extensive martial arts training to become neo for the matrix serial:
..and while the machinist will obviously draw comparisons to hitchcock’s works: the machinist works more as a parable for the twenty-first century where the lines of reality are rapidly diminishing in lieu of the massive information hemmorhage that continues to transform reality without paying heed nor consideration to those un-willing to change accordingly: trevor reznik becomes the everyday man trapped within the perpetual nightmare of his own self-denials until he becomes literally consumed by such daemonic waters (..another aspect to hitchcock’s works: his subtle manner in expressing the plight confronting and often befalling the common man and woman despite their best attempt to numb themselves with the trappings of contemporary living..)
the machinist possesses a depth that i find lacking in the movies of m. shyamalan: where a once-you-saw-it-you-get-it feel prevades throughout his filmworks sans un-breakable which i consider to be his strongest work
whereas the sixth sense considered his masterpiece comes off as one-dimensional and deeply designed to appeal to the ‘safe’ crowd: the machinist invites us all to enter..
It is incrediable that Christain Bale lost 63 pounds of his body weight to do this movie. But let us not forget it was his choice to do this. He could have refused making this movie. We still have to look at him as an actor and not simply at his success in loosing the weight. Maybe it was not such a good thing because he maybe at health risk now (all for the money)
We have to realize that this actors are used to adding pounds and taking pounds off to do various movie scenes.But that is not what makes a great actor, they do that to get the part and to be later compensated by money (profits of the movie ) You could call this devotion to his work , I see it more like his choice . At least he has a motive to loose all this weight alot of people have to do it for health reasons and they will not recieve millions in the end. They also do this alittle more easier with personal trainers and supporting doctors and expensive drugs. Personally I don’t think he should have done but that is my thought!
seeing the trailers for this movie has me agreeing wholeheartedly with this review.
the recent slate of actors and actresses’ self-sacrifices and extreme transformations in order to create believable movies seems to be starting a trend. perhaps it was because of the critical claim and appraisal that each of them is given for their daring and “career-widening” approaches.
Until just recently, with Charlize Theron and Renee Zellwegger, it was rare that such lengths would be gone to in order to show the world what a dedicated actor one was. Perhaps it is with the growing roster of talent that those in the entertainment industry feel that they have to use drastic measures in order to distinguish themselves.
Every successful actor/actress is photogenic, has talent, and an impressive resume of films under his/belt. What they now need is a crowning achievement, an opus magnus, with which the public can associate them with. When people think of Charlize Theron, there’s the unmistakable beauty, but she has managed to create a legitimacy for herself by shedding off that image completely in the vicious and amazingly-acted Monster. In this movie, she could be barely recognized as her self, and yet she was captivating and showed off her talents. Similarly, Christian Bale could use this movie to prove his acting prowess, before stepping into the well-worn shoes of Batman.
Perhaps it is with these radical transformations that the actors/actresses hope to use in order to force the audience to discard their preconceptions. Every actor has a portfolio of films, and from that, an impression of a character is already assumed before the acting has begun. With a radical change in appearance, they are given the opportunity to start anew, with a blank slate, and it may be that that is what Christian Bale is looking for – a venue to express himself creatively, as though he were starting his career all over again.
I think this movie sounds like a dark suspense making the viewers wanting to know what happens next. Cristian Bale is definitely an underrated actor who definitely deserves more credit. Maybe he will with the release of the Machinist. I saw the trailer for it and the cinematography seems brilliant. Very dark, but the mood seems very intense keeping the viewers wide awake. With a story soo twisted, it is sure to be your moneys worth.
Oh yay, another plot synopsis parading as a legitimate film review.
Why am I not surprised?
Hey, in case you’re wondering an actual review gives you a feel for the project *without* going into glorified point form listing all those details that we, the moviegoers, are supposed to discover for ourselves.
It’s the difference between getting a whiff of the great meal & building up an appetite and have someone list off all the ingredients and how it was prepared and why.
Anyways, on with the comment…
Well, for once Melora Koepke didn’t spit out one of her usual articles. Hey, even a broken clock has got to give the right time at least twice a day. So asides from the huge plot synopsis & movie trivia that takes up a good third of the article it’s a pretty nice read. Not great but nice.
I’ve made my feelings known regarding this movie in my pre-emptive critique so I won’t bother to repeat myself too much here. People can gush about pretty boy actors in the media but very few actually deserve the press. Christian Bale has continued to impress the moviegoers with his range and intensity while empty-headed himbo jack-o-lanterns like Ben Affleck stink up the screen with relentless glee. If what he’s done for this role doesn’t silence his critics and skeptics about BATMAN BEGINS then the hell with them.
THE MACHINIST is the sort of project that makes up for a lot of bad movies past this year.
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And hey, I don’t know about you all but don’t you find it suspicious that NOUVELLE-FRANCE, Quebec’s historical big budget bomb isn’t getting reviewed? Ok, maybe suspicious is too strong a word but it is odd. But hey, that’s just me thinking outside the box.
Two things are fascinating about this movie : the atmosphere of weirdness created by the director… and the body of actor Christian Bale.
When going to the movies, I really enjoy feeling the mood, the color and the atmosphere of a film. And “The Machinist” seems like a movie with these characteristics. Other known directors are good at establishing a mood in a film, like Tarantino (slow moving fast shooting Pulp Fiction) or David Lynch (very cruel Blue Velvet). Closer to us, “Gaz Bar Blues” director Louis Bélanger (souvenirs doux-amers from the director’s youth) is also great at capturing an atmosphere, though his latest film is not related to anything weird…
I’m definitely looking froward to see the Machinist to discover if director Brad Anderson can, like other mentionned moviemakers, take it out to another level of craftsmanship.
And also to see the skinny looks of actor Christian Bale, who’s either very, very hard on his body or taking a lot of drugs ! And you don’t need to be a doctor to know that either way, it’s not healthy at all to do such sacrifices. Even for the love of art…
These days actors such as Christian Bale, Tom Hanks and Matt Damon slim down or bulk up to satisfy the requirements of movie roles. This physical transformation often takes months to complete during which time no shooting of scenes is possible. If not supervised by a doctor, it can be downright dangerous! If a naturally gaunt and emaciated actor could be found for the role, the shooting of scenes could start immediately. This would save a lot of money for the movie producer and even add an extra dose of realism. It is always much harder to pretend to be somebody else!
It is a shame that a blind actor could not be found to play the part of Ray in the film of the same name. No special actor training would then be needed. Jamie Foxx who got the role had to work extra hard to make it appear authentic! On the other hand, if a blind person wanted a role destined for a sighted person, his request would be deemed to be ludicrous!
Leonardo di Caprio was nominated for his only Oscar when he played a mentally challenged youngster in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. Having a truly retarded actor in that role would have been the right casting choice but most movie critics would have ignored the performance no matter how good it was, saying it was so easy to play for such an actor with inferior mental abilities.
Carried to the extreme we would have white actors taking on black roles such as in the film “The Jazz Singer” and male actors even playing female roles as was done with Shahespeare’s plays in Elizabethan times. It is disgraceful to have a few actors with more money than they know what to do with and other actors who don’t have enough money for their next meal.
It is time for casting directors to take notice. Choose the right person to fill the role and worry less whether the actor is well known or not! In the final analysis it is the actual performance that counts not the effort involved!
The first time that I saw Christian Bale was in the film “American Psycho” and he was just perfect for the role and his acting is incredible. Christian Bale has had a string of luck because he will now be playing Batman that is coming out in theatres next year. In The Machinist Christian Bale lost a lot of weight for the role and I was surprised to see the picture of him so skinny and down to 120 pounds. He looks very unrecognizable in this film. There has been many actors who have lost a lot of weight for their film roles and some of those are Gary Oldman for “Sid & Nancy” in which he got a heart attack and nearly died because he was starving himself for the role as Sid and also how can you forget “Adrian Brody for his Oscar winning performance for best actor for the film “The Pianist.” Who knows, maybe Christian Bale might win several awards for his incredible performance in “The Machinist.”
In contrast to Bridget Jones’ Diary, this actor was loosing some pounds for a movie. This is for sure harder than putting on some pounds. I did not follow the career of this actor very much, but when i look back now, he had some interesting roles. But none of them had the press talking like this one. Hat off to him for pulling of a big weight loss like that. I still don’t understand, why he lost the pounds and the film crew did not use digital enhancement after the film was shot and remove some pounds digitally. I guess, this give more publicity to the film and more people are going now to see it, because of the story behind the film. This will make a good documentary as an extra on the DVD. I just hope, that the teenagers who will see this film don`t think a skeleton like that is normal and they have to loose some pounds until they look like that. You never know with teenagers these days. Let’s see if Christian Bale get’s nominated for an Oscar for this role. The film is now released at the end of the year just for that.
I did not see the movie until now, so i can’t talk about his acting skills in this movie, but just the fact that he lost soo much pounds is worrysome. Let’s hope in the future the film industry is talking about an actors ability to act and not the ability on how much somebody can loose or add pounds in a short amount of time.
This movie was really interesting, quite hard to take… Christian Bale gives an amazing performance in it very good and impressive as was his performance in American Psycho.
Do not go watch this movie if you are depressed or not happy unless you are accompanied with a good friend ;)
Very good movie!
We saw him in American Psycho and boy was he ever psycho but the character that he played very complex as with the machinist.What a great actor.You would think that by now he would be one of the top actors today.Although on many occasions I found myself a little confused with the plot of this film at the same time it was quite enjoyable and kept me always wanting to know what was going to happen next