I...can't...get....no...sleep!

Rating: 9/10 (22 April 2006)

Well, in his impressive and and literally exhausting film "The Mashinist", Brad Anderson certainly showed us what we DON'T ever want to become: insomniacs! Pitiful Trevor Reznik hasn't slept in a whole year, he's not much more than skin and bones and he has to write down memo notes on yellow post-its and stick them on the fridge, in order to remember them the next day. Trevor's condition goes from bad to even worse when he starts to spot imaginary colleagues and becomes a real danger for his fellow workers at the industrial factory. Gradually, Trevor's growing insanity leads to little clues and flashback-sequences that hint at a traumatizing event in the past and involving all the people in his surrounding. Wow, I can honestly say I was impressed by this movie! Unlike most horror fans, I didn't really care about Anderson's previous film "Session 9", despite it being dark and quite clever, but "The Machinist" is so much more involving and bitter. First and foremost, there's the masterful performance by Christian Bale and the jaw-dropping metamorphosis he went through, prior to filming. The amount of weight he lost, the impact on his own personal health... What Bale achieved here is a lot more than just preparing for a role, but it worked, since you stare at him with amazement every time he looks at his own exhausted body in the mirror. The story is really good as well, albeit nothing original and rather predictable at some points. Anderson patiently and professionally builds up a tense atmosphere and he devoted much time to selecting the absolute darkest and most depressing set pieces. The factory where Trevor works, for example, is a truly uncanny place filled with unfriendly people and dangerous machinery. Bale might be drawing most of the attention to him, but there still are some supportive roles that are definitely worth mentioning, like Jennifer Jason Leigh as the warm-hearted prostitute who comforts Trevor and Michael Ironside as his co-worker. The cinematography and narrative style of "The Machinist" are very sober, which of course suits the tone of the film best, but inevitably this also resulted in a totally unglamorous cinema release and an almost unnoticed DVD edition. That really is a shame and very unjust. This film may not be everybody's taste, but it's powerful horror/thriller film-making that can't be overlooked. Highly recommended!