The Machinist (2004)

Brief: Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) hasn't slept in a year. He divides his time between his work as a lathe operator, a 24-hour café where he chats with waitress Maria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), and hooker named Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh). After he causes an accident at work involving Miller (Michael Ironside), Trevor admits that he was distracted by Ivan (John Sharian). When everyone else denies Ivan's existence, Trevor suspects a larger conspiracy at play.

It has taken many a sleep to come to terms with what this film, and I think I've got a handle on it now.

Much has been made of Bale's astonishing 63 pound weight loss, and it is credited as the most weight change ever made for a film. Compared to Robert De Niro's weight gain for Raging Bull, Bale reminded me more of De Niro's performance in another Martin Scorcese work: Taxi Driver. I don't think I understood what De Niro was doing back in 1976 until I was caught up in Bale's mesmerising performance. It's true that he does a different accent for every character, and I honestly believe this to be his best work to date. He just keeps getting better and better. Bale, looking horrifyingly like a Holocaust victim, overwhelmed me with the latent guilt that drives this movie, and he managed to make, without giving too much away, even the most despicable of characters worthy of wonderfully wrought sympathy. His above and beyond performance should be rewarded accordingly.

Brad Anderson's direction of Scott Kosar's paranoid and thrilling screenplay combines elements of Alfred Hitchcock and Christopher Nolan, forever confounding the audience and driving them forward with an alternatively creeping and racing pace. His direction is electric and harrowing, always hinting but never giving you enough to go on.

Trevor's flirtations with Maria were insubstantial, but Sanchez-Gijon makes her smaller role worth remembering. Stevie is Trevor's true lady, and Leigh works hard to avoid relegating her character to a stereotypical hooker with a heart of gold. In the end, it's just enough to avoid tipping the balance, but there's still something missing from her performance that you can't quite put your finger on. A pulse, maybe. Something other than a black eye to make Stevie as worth caring about as Maria.

Of course, Anderson and Kosar make sure all you really care about is the other characters in relation to Trevor. Sharian's the most compelling of these, with his toothy grin, massive noggin, and air of a bounty hunter about him. Trevor's never clear on what Ivan wants from him, and Sharian makes sure that the audience feels just as toyed with.

If any of you doubt why I believe Fight Club to be a comedy, I recommend you see this one. You feel the theatre feeling not afraid but nervous, like someone will be waiting for you when you get home. Someone you owe, somehow. You know what the ending will be by the time it rolls around, and Anderson and Bale manage to make you still long for it. A-