Christian Bale gives a tour-de-force performance in this sleep deprived thriller.
Not only that but he starved himself to take on the skeletal, emaciated role and the results are shocking.
Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) has chronic insomnia and hasn’t slept in a year. He works as a machinist and his insomnia has caused him to become an emaciated skeletal figure.
This doesn’t set well with his co-workers and they’re suspicious of his weight loss and strange behavior. Things go from bad to worse when he’s distracted by an unfamiliar man named Ivan (John Sharian) and his co-worker Miller (Michael Ironside) loses his arm in one of the machines.
No one at the machine shop knows of a worker named Ivan and they have no trace of him. There are two women in Trevor’s life, the prostitute Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and the airport diner waitress Maria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon). Trevor is haunted by both flashes of imagery as well as the menacing Ivan and begins down a road to insanity to discover why he’s haunted by them.
I don’t know that I can say much about the film because that might reveal some plot points that would spoil it for you.
Christian Bale gives a harrowing performance as the insomniac and he put his body to the test to slim down for the role. Slim down might be being kind as the actor only ate a can of tuna or an apple a day for four months prior to filming losing 62 pounds.
He weighed in at 120 pounds, but wanted to go to 100. The filmmakers thought this might be detrimental to his health so they didn’t let him go lower than 120, but used CGI to thin him more in one scene. The results are shocking.
He looks like a walking skeleton and you can easily see the stress of the insomnia and the big secret of the film playing on the character. It’s not exactly a happy film so it may turn some off. It’s a mystery and character study, but features a fine bit of acting by Bale.
The Machinist is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features include a commentary by director Brad Anderson. All special features are in high definition, unless noted. The 23 minute “Manifesting the Machinist” explains how the film was shot and developed.
The 14 minute “Hiding in Plain Sight” details the visual clues that were given to the view during the film about the secret of Bale’s character. The following are in standard definition. The 25 minute “Breaking all the Rules” takes us behind-the-scenes and has some cast interviews. There are also 12 minutes of deleted scenes and the 2 minute theatrical trailer.
The Machinist is a dark, gloomy picture that’s sure to leave you a bit down when the credits roll. The reason to see the film is Christian Bale. He proves that not only is he a fine actor but he’s willing to devote himself to a role that he’s willing to subject his body to the trials and tribulations required.
The Machinist [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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