Hitchcockian psychological gut-wrencher - well done! AMBIGUOUS SPOILER

Rating: 8/10 (13 July 2005)

In an era where 'feel good' films seem to be the only stuff getting any attention (maybe because the state of global politics is forcing us all into deep states of denial), it should be no surprise that this spell-binding odyssey of psychological terror slipped by with little fanfare. The Machinist is disturbing from start to finish and executed with style. The pace is a bit plodding, but the excellent performances, and the highly compelling plot pay off very well.
Christian Bale gives a strong performance in a very physically and emotionally demanding role. He plays a machinist, Trevor Reznick, who has not slept for a very long time and whose dream-world is beginning to impinge on his conscious mind. In short, he is losing his grip, and some very bad things are happening because of it. Bale's appearance alone is ghastly in this film - he is so thin that the frequent scenes depicting him without a shirt are instantly depressing. The film dances on a tightrope between reality and paranoid delusion consistently. Excellent supporting work by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Ironside help drive the story. Leigh plays a prostitute who has fallen for Reznick, and is offering him a future, and, possibly salvation from himself. But Reznick seems hell bent on casting aside any hope of salvation. The plot is full of secrets, cleverly woven together to compose a non-linear post-modern mosaic of images which represent events - part of a story we are not privy to until the very end of the film.
My only complaints about this very well made film are minor. I felt that the soundtrack was somewhat uninspired and a little pretentious, and I felt that one of Bale's solo scenes was poorly executed (when he is leaving Ironside's house and spots Ivan's car parked at a nearby corner). How and why this film was passed up by so many awards is a puzzle almost as difficult to solve as the film's own plot.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for Hitchcock fans and those who enjoy intelligent but plot-heavy disturbing films.