Product Description

Christian Bale, Brad Anderson, Jennifer Jason Leigh "Fight Club Meets Memento" - Loaded "Christian Bale is awesome!" - Heat Trevor Reznik (CHRISTIAN BALE - Batman Begins) has not slept for a year. Ravaged by fatigue, his body is little more than a bag of bones. Wracked by exhaustion, his weary mind increasingly plays tricks on him. Then, one fateful day at the machine shop where he works, he's involved in an accident and a fellow worker loses an arm. Reznik's guilt turns to paranoia when he discovers cryptic notes in his apartment and a ghostly apparition haunts his every move. Is it someone out to exact revenge for the gruesome accident? In a desperate attempt to save his sanity, Reznik must uncover the truth...but the more he learns, the more terrifying his sleepless nightmare becomes. "Gripping...The Machinist is set to be a cult classic" - Sunday Times Culture

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4909 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-09-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Synopsis
Christian Bale delivers one of cinema's most sacrificial performances in Brad Anderson's mesmerising thriller. Written by Scott Kosar (2003's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE), THE MACHINIST takes place in a bleak and nondescript American city, where Trevor Reznick (Bale) is quite literally withering away to nothing. During the day Trevor works in a colourless industrial factory, while at night he seeks refuge in the bed of a tender prostitute, Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh). For reasons unknown even to Trevor, he hasn't been able to sleep for an entire year. In the process, he has shed over sixty pounds, making him look like a walking skeleton. After an accident at the factory costs Trevor his job, he finds himself tracking a mysterious figure that may or may not, in fact, provide some answers to his confusion. Meanwhile, he begins to connect with a pretty airport waitress, Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), who shows Trevor some much-needed sympathy. By the time the film builds to its revelatory conclusion, it becomes quite clear just what has been tormenting Trevor all along. Anderson and Kosar's vision is brought to spectacular life by cinematographer Xavi Gimenez and composer Roque Banos, whose haunting atmospherics recall the best work of Alfred Hitchcock. And then, of course, there is Bale, whose performance is as terrifying, brave, and devastating as the screen has ever seen.

Customer Reviews

The Machinist
There was one problem with this film...Christian Bale is A MACHINE! I was so consumed by the torture he must have gone through to lose the weight for this film, I wasn't concentrating on the plot at all. I remember I enjoyed it though, but I know that's not very helpful for a review (!).

It's All a Dream
Only see this film if you are a pseud and/or you like being duped. I'd compare it to No Country for Old Men in its contempt for the intelligent viewer, and targetting of second-rate minds. But to be entirely fair, Christian Bale is very skinny in it.

To sleep, perchance to dream
The Machinist is a haunting study of a man's slide into delusional paranoia and obsession. Christian Bale's performance as Trevor Reznik, the eponymous machinist, is as compelling as any performance I have seen. His dedication to the role included losing so much weight that I can only hope he did so under medical supervision and that it hasn't left any long-term damage. The image of his emaciated form will stay with the viewer for some time. I can't help but wonder if he might have garnered an Oscar nomination if this movie had been a more mainstream one.

Although steeped in grimness and horror there are a few darkly comic moments here. The fact that the story revolves around a blue collar worker is a refreshing change from the more typical anti-hero. And the resolution is a satisfying and moving one which does not telegraph itself to you too far in advance.

All in all, although there are echoes of other films here, the Machinist is an impressive and original piece of independent cinema.