Shades of "Fight Club" blended with Hitchcockian mood

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2005)

Trevor Reznik(Christian Bale,starved and almost sickeningly fleshed-out)is the title character,a quiet,unassuming man who hasn't slept in a year,eats very little and has few(if any)friends. His only real relationships are with a good-humored hooker(Jennifer Jason-Leigh,perfect in this part.That sounds bad,I know)and a kindly waitress at an airport. His sense of reality seems to be taking a beating as he finds himself unable to explain his erratic behavior and his meeting a person who nobody else at work is aware of. While distracted on the job,he causes an accident that maims one of his coworkers(Michael Ironside,understated here),and from there,the film's pulse-beat really picks up.
Actually,I'm trying hard not to give anything away here,but I feel like I am almost doing so anyway by my description of this film in the summary above. It is,however,tough for me to describe it WITHOUT drawing these comparisons. A quick parallel:both "Fight Club" and "MAchinist" have a main protagonist who is sleep-deprived and socially crippled,and both are having their lives slowly spiral out of control. Both also have a twist ending,too. The Hitchcock touches to me are mostly in the cinematography and music,which always hint toward something more sinister and dark on the horizon,even as the settings and events on the screen SEEM pretty ordinary.
THis film is,on the whole,quite interesting and well-done,but a previous review summed it up well:this is NOT a movie for just anyone. In fact,it could be considered the definitive of an "aquired taste",cineaste type of viewing,because the rhythm and images of this film are certainly unsettling. However,if you like moody,strange films with darker messages and a puzzle at its heart,go for this one.