One way ticket to paranoia.

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2005)

The Machinist follows Christian Bale as Trevor Reznik, a man who has not slept in a year, who's body has wilted down to skin and bones and a guy who is loosing his grip on the world around him.
Trevor works in a machine shop and meets a new guy called Ivan. One day at work Trevor helps a fellow workmate fix a machine, but is distracted by this Ivan who makes a not-too-friendly gesture at him across the workshop. Trevor knocks into the machine, sets it going and his action costs his work mate an arm. From then on Trevor spirals into paranoia, convinced everyone - including Ivan - is out to get him. But no one seems to know who Ivan is.
Christian Bale plays the part of an insomniac with a weight problem very well. The fact that he actually lost half his natural body weight to play this part shows his commitment. The thing about this film is you never know until the end whether or not he is going crazy, or if he is indeed being set up by everyone around him. The ending is a kicker and unless you know exactly what you are looking for you will not guess it.
Definitely worth the money.