Terry's Reviews
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Movie Reviews: |
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The Machinist Paramount Classics – 2005 Directed by Brad Anderson Written by Scott Kosar Starring |
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| It’s as if Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard
Herrmann came out of the grave to make a new movie. Brad Anderson has made a thriller that
has many of the qualities Alfred Hitchcock brought to the screen. Mysterious red herrings
are thrown all about in Hitchcock fashion as this film plays. Though THE MACHINIST is
drenched in darkness, is not a horror film. I’m sure this disappointed many who loved
SESSION 9 but it’s not the same type of movie. It actually delves deeper into the
psychological state of one man so in that way it’s actually more a character study
than a true thriller. Christian Bale plays a lonely guy named Trevor Reznik who works at a large machine shop. Trevor seems like a good worker but there’s something wrong about him. He can barely stay awake and he kind of zones in an out of consciousness. This automatically brings suspense to the scenes where Trevor is working around the powerful machines at his job. From the beginning, you can’t help but notice how skinny Bale is in this role. He looks like a walking skeleton with his thin skin tracing the outline of the bones threatening to surface from his emaciated body. We find out that Trevor hasn’t sleep in over a year. It’s not obvious why he is having a problem with insomnia and the answer is kept hidden until the end of the film. Scott Kosar has written some very interesting characters that populate the world around Trevor. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a prostitute named Stevie whom Trevor befriends. Stevie is interested in Trevor personally besides satisfying his physical needs. This is good, as the movie needs a little optimism in Trevor’s dark spinning world. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón plays the beautiful Marie, whom Trevor keeps having a midnight rendezvous with, at an airport café. Trevor ends up taking Marie and her son out on dates and he is very nurturing and protective of these two characters. John Sharian is unforgettable as the robust, muscular bald headed Ivan, who sports large bleached white teeth and a hand that is more like a deformed foot. Michael Ironside, whom I’ve liked since SCANNERS and VISITING HOURS, plays a more mellow character than normal, who works at the same machine shop with Trevor. The film has a dream like quality as Trevor keeps seeing Ivan around town in different places and he keeps getting "hangman" clues left on his refrigerator. What all of the above-mentioned elements mean, comes as a deep-seated revelation that doesn’t feel forced or false. Music composer Roque Baños uses the theremin instrument and the orchestra in a similar fashion to the way Bernard Herrmann did for the films with Alfred Hitchcock. Baños’ score is subdued and effectively contributes to making THE MACHINIST crawl under your skin. Cinematographers Xavi Giménez and Charlie Jiminez use darkness as their friend. Gray, steel blue and black colors are used to saturate THE MACHINIST with the hand of doom. No matter where the movie is, whether outside in broad daylight or inside a carnival spook house, THE MACHINIST has been visually designed to make you feel uncomfortable much the way Trevor Reznik must feel inside. Brad Anderson provides audio commentary, which covers the production with great detail. I like how Anderson remains humble yet is completely passionate about the film. The Machinist: Breaking the Rules gives an in-depth look into the physical production of this film. I did enjoy seeing how Brad Anderson worked on the set and it’s amazing that the crew had to endure temperatures over 100 degrees I Barcelona and that Anderson ended up directing a portion of the shoot while lying down after snapping his Achilles tendon. There are eight Deleted Scenes, which were alternate versions of some scenes used in the film. THE MACHINIST is thoughtfully made from script to screen. It’s deeper than the average thriller but probably not a film for everyone. THE MACHINIST walks along cinematic line Brad Anderson has said he likes to work; half the film is within the commercial film world, while the other is set in art. For me, it is a potent, hard to grasp place not every filmmaker can reach as successfully as Brad Anderson. |
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