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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr
Machinist and chronic insomniac Trevor Reznik keeps interacting with a sinister coworker at his job. Strange thing is, this coworker may or may not be real...
Trevor Reznik ( Chritstian Bale )hasn't slept in a year. His physical and mental deterioration result in confusion , paranoia , guilt , anxiety and terror. His only solace from all this , comes from an affectionate prostitute ( Jennifer Jason Leigh). Mysterious notes turn up in his apartment and hallucinations of a non existent co-worker force him to search for the truth. Is there a plot to drive him insane or is he already there?
A not surprizing ending .
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Add a CommentI was so impressed with Christopher Bale. The scariest thing in ther movie was Christopher Bale's appearence and acting, acting that was award- worthy. Don't want to give any of it away so I'll just say this movie will stay with me for quite awhile.
Absolutely amazed by the performance of Christian Bale in this film. Beyond the weight loss for the role, he was completely mesmerizing as the "Machinist". Was as much a thriller "who done it" as it was a dramatic gut wrencher. Very Kafkaesque (if I may say) in regards to Trevor Reznik's feelings of isolation and paranoia (although not sleeping for a year will do that to you).
best of the year
Beautifully shot film, with very artsy moments. Christian Bale's body transformation is amazing and his performance as a sleep-deprived factory worker is very good. The dialogue leaves a little to be desired and the plot is somewhat interesting, somewhat confusing, and somewhat a little too "Fight Club" in some ways. Good, but not great.
Christian Bale is an animal. His record setting weight loss (63 lbs.) for this movie role was just surreal. Dangerous. I couldn't bear to look at him, so I had to go make a sandwich. And I'd heard that sleep deprivation leads to insanity, but one year?!? C'mon, now, writers. Don't know if it's possible, but definitely implausible. He certainly wouldn't have been nearly as functional as he was. (I know, I know. Poetic license.) Anyways, I'm still reeling from images of his gauntness. To quote a teenage girl: "Eeewww!" As a whole, this descent into madness was sufficiently creepy. Dragged in spots, though. The ending could've been better, too.
This movie was entertaining and interesting but not one of my favorite for this year. “Not too bad---good performance”. "I fast forwarded a lot but not all the way.”
Christian "the chameleon" Bale is frightfully anorexic in this breezy nightmare of psychotic dissolution
Enjoyable and unexpected. I found this movie to be a blast.
The entire cast gave strong performances but I found the film sometimes slow moving.Bales losing an excessive amount of weight for the film , for me ,had the wrong impact . I found his emaciated body too much of a distraction.It did ,however , hold merit in showing what a guilt trip can do.
Bale is amazing in this movie. That is not a body double! He lost over 60 pounds for this role. The images of his living skeleton are quite disturbing, as are many aspects of this movie.
This is a unique story and well worth the time to watch.