|
|
| In
the end, we get a glimpse into some important questions about life.
We think about how one deals with guilt. We think about the power
of confession to set us free. We think about the way we try to hide
from our problems, but know that the more we hide, the more powerful
those problems become. |
(2004) Film Review |
| This
page was created on December 8, 2004
This page was last updated on
December 11, 2004
—Review by Darrel Manson
—Trailers, Photos
—About
this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
—Blog
with Darrel Manson
Dial up modems will take a few moments |
| CREDITS |
| Directed
by Brad Anderson
Screenplay
by Scott Kosar
Cast
(in credits order)
Christian Bale .... Trevor Reznik
Jennifer Jason Leigh .... Stevie
Aitana Sánchez-Gijón .... Marie
John Sharian .... Ivan
Michael Ironside .... Miller
Larry Gilliard Jr. .... Jackson (as Larry Gilliard)
Reg E. Cathey .... Jones
Anna Massey .... Mrs. Shrike
Matthew Romero Moore .... Nicholas (as Matthew Romero)
Robert Long .... Supervisor Furman
Colin Stinton .... Inspector Rogers
Craig Stevenson .... Tucker
Ferrán Lahoz .... Gonzales (as Ferran Lahoz)
Jeremy Xidu .... Evangelisti
Produced
by
Javier Arsuaga .... line producer
Carlos Fernández .... executive producer
Julio Fernández .... producer
Teresa Gefaell .... line producer
Antonia Nava .... executive producer
Original Music by Roque Baños
Cinematography by Xavi Giménez and Charlie
Jiminez
Film Editing by Luis De La Madrid
MPAA: Rated R for violence
and disturbing images, sexuality and language.
Runtime: 102 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
|
| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers,
Photos |
| POSTER |
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|
| SYNOPSIS
|
|
This is no place to be hallucinating, but Trevor Reznik cannot
necessarily trust his own bleary eyes anymore. When he meets a new
worker at the shop, the brutal-looking, bald-headed Ivan (John Sharian),
the man appears to come and go at will. It is while staring at his
frightening new acquaintance, that Trevor makes an unforgivable
mistake, resulting in a gruesome accident befalling his co-worker
Miller (Michael Ironside). Despite his protestations, Trevor is
clearly to blame for Miller’s career-ending amputation.
Trevor’s
private hell now deepens. Ostracized by his fellow workers, eaten
away by a devastating guilt, and increasingly paranoid that someone
will try to exact revenge for his error, Trevor begins to suspect
that nothing that has happened to him is a coincidence. Someone
is clearly behind these terrible events, causing them to unfold,
someone who wants to harm him, someone who has been leaving him
mysterious notes, including an unnerving Hangman game that seems
to taunt him, on his refrigerator door.
No
one is exempt from Trevor’s suspicion. The only two people
Trevor trusts are a gritty call-girl (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who
has fallen in love with him, and an alluring waitress and single
mom (Spanish actress Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) with whom he carries
on an almost fairy-tale romance, even as his life disintegrates.
Yet
even when they begin to threaten him – with talk of mysterious
exes and private phone calls that only stoke the flames of his apprehension
– Trevor finds himself alone, hunted, without options. He
loses his job, and all hope of love. He becomes obsessed with cleanliness,
obsessively bleaching the floors and washing his hands with lye.
Desperate for a rest, for a peace he simply cannot find, he is no
longer sure what is up, what is down, what is real and what is imagined.
All has turned to sheer madness.
It
seems there is no way out of his spiraling descent, until Trevor
uncovers a hint that is perhaps the key to what is happening to
him. It lies not among the suspects he has been investigating, but
is buried in his disquieted psyche. |
 Review
by
DARREL MANSON
Pastor,
Artesia Christian Church, Artesia, CA
http://netministries.org/see/churches/ch01198
Darrel has an incredible love and interest in the cinematic arts.
His reviews usually include independent and significantly important
film |
 Everything
about The Machinist is designed to creep
you out --the blue lighting, the music full of reeds and strings
(and a bit of theremin) reminiscent of 50s horror films, and, most
of all, the skeletal Christian Bale, who is said to have lost sixty-five
pounds for the film. All of this sets the mood for a psychological
thriller.
Trevor Reznik has been awake for the past year. He's been suffering
severe insomnia. He spends the nights scrubbing his floor with a
toothbrush and bleach, visiting his prostitute girlfriend, or sitting
in an airport diner drinking coffee and talking to the friendly
waitress. During the day he works as a machinist on an assembly
line where he gets along with the workers, but angers his supervisor.
 The
trouble with such sleep deprivation is that it can lead to paranoia,
hallucinations, and other mental problems. All this lack of sleep
is taking its toll on Trevor. Accidents happen, or are they accidents?
Notes with a game of hangman start appearing on Trevor's refrigerator.
As we watch the film, we begin to wonder just what is, and what
isn't, real.
The Machinist is a bit like crossing a
Hitchcock film with The Twilight Zone. It has the kind of overwhelming
mood that Hitchcock was so adept at producing. It also has the kind
of discovery as we come to the end that made The Twilight
Zone so popular. As Trevor struggles to understand
the things that seem to be happening to him, he eventually needs
to struggle to understand himself.
One of the problems with trying to review psychological thrillers
is that by their nature, you can't say much about them without giving
away the twists and turns that make them so intriguing. And although
I think many people will readily figure out what is happening, it
is the "why things are happening like this" that makes for the mystery.
In the end, we get a glimpse into some important questions about
life. We think about how one deals with guilt. We think about the
power of confession to set us free. We think about the way we try
to hide from our problems, but know that the more we hide, the more
powerful those problems become.
The Machinist is an excursion into the
darkness that can overwhelm people. As the truth of the story is
revealed, we discover that the truth may be the way out of the darkness.
It is then we see that often the truth really does set us free.
—Blog
with Darrel Manson
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—Blog
with Darrel Manson
Your
Private Comments.
I will not post these comments.
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concerns and prayer needs. I will correspond with you, usually
within two weeks.
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