Grew with a re-watch

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2016)

An amazing performance by Christian Bale, a very good one by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and a cool, effective, desaturated look make for an interesting film.
A man who has hardly slept for a year goes further and further into his own paranoia, as he, and we, question his sanity.
It works quite well as a psychological thriller, setting up a really creepy, unique, dreamlike mood for most of it's length.
But the ending is so neat, and ties up the loose ends in such an obvious way that it takes a bit away from all that precedes it.
It did improve for me on a second viewing, where, knowing the ending I could appreciate it more for what it was, rather than being disappointed in what it wasn't.