Dark Psycho-Drama: Good, but not Great

Rating: 7/10 (21 April 2006)

Drawing influence from Hitchcock and, in particular, David Lynch, Anderson weaves the odd tale of Trevor (Christian Bale), a heavy machinery operator. What strike you right off about Trevor is how INCREDIBLY SKINNY he is. This is the famous role for which the 6-foot Bale starved himself down to 117 lb. He literally looks like a walking skeleton. Trevor never sleeps, eats little (of course), doesn't drink much either. He does see a prostitute (Jennifer Jason Leigh, some 12 years his senior, but she pulls it off) who wants to be his girlfriend, despite the fact she outweighs him by at least 20 pounds. Anyway, Trevor's minimal life is thrown into turmoil when he starts finding strange post-it notes on his refrigerator. They seem to be the beginnings of the old 'Hang Man' word-spelling game we all played in the school yard. Simultaneously, Trevor meets a waitress, with whom he begins a romance. There is violence and a couple of shocks in this movie, intended to throw the narrative off-kilter, and to open up numerous interpretations. As the film progresses, reality and unreality become mixed. Paranoia and impending doom become the dominant moods. Characters we come to know cease to exist or become interchanged. One is never sure quite what is real and what is not. This is not a terribly original idea, of course, but Anderson, with the help of Bale's very committed performance, makes it very watchable. By midpoint, we are firmly in David Lynch territory, and while the film lacks Lynch's poetic touch, it's a pretty satisfying watch. The music score by Roque Banos pays homage to Bernard Herrmann without actually quoting him; it adds quite a bit to the experience.
Here's another, and pretty good, example of where Film Noir went after the classic period: deeper into the psyche of the main character. Recommended to all aficionados of post-, neo- Noir, or whatever label you want to use.