Creepy head games.

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2005)

A rare film that excels at nearly every effort it endeavors to achieve. Smart writing, excellent direction and a pitch perfect performance by Bale as a man slowly wasting away.
For almost a year, Trevor Reznick (Bale) has been unable to sleep. His body wilts away from the lack of sleep, making him look like a Holocaust victim. As his body deteriorates, his mind begins to follow. After an accident at the machine factory he works in (in which a co-worker loses an arm), he begins to receive notes from a mysterious person that jumps in and out of his life. The more he seeks to unravel the mystery of the man as well as his own life, the more the lines of reality begin to fade.
Part mystery, part horror, part psychological study, the film takes many roads and rides them all to completion. The mystery is embodied in the enigmatic man and the secrets of Reznick's past. Like many modern thrillers, there is a twist to the mystery; while it's pretty easy to guess the twist, the actual reason behind it is unique and satisfying.
The horror arises in the form of grim photography and Reznick's ever mounting paranoia. Hardly a frame in the film isn't drench in bleached colors and low lighting. Complimented by methodical direction that keeps the camera focused only where it needs to be, which is Bale. He is so committed to the role (rumored to have lost upwards of 65lbs)that he ceases to be himself and becomes Reznick. As his life falls deeper into dementia, the viewer is right along with him, feeling every bit of the fear and sheer exhaustion of a man that hasn't slept in a year.
And in the last it is a quiet character study on the causes and ramifications of guilt. How dealing with our issues and owning up to our failures may be the only way to actual get on with life; that denying or ignoring our short comings can only lead to more duress.
A creepy, thoughtful tale that will hold viewers riveted for the duration and force them to analyze after it's conclusion.
9/10