Scoop's notes

There's plenty of truth in all of those statements. I did catch on to the secret (or at least a big chunk of it) early in the film, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the way in which it was revealed. In fact, when I looked back on the film, I felt that the film's author had done quite a clever job at showing how the lead character's delusions were oblique reflections of his suppressed memories.

It's a grim and depressing movie, and is certainly not a wide-audience popcorn kind of experience. It is fundamentally a very arty and depressing episode of The Twilight Zone stretched to feature length. As noted by the critics, it's similar to but not as cool as Fight Club. It's also similar to but not as original as Memento. Given its grim tone and the fact that many people viewed it as derivative, The Machinist was shoveled into mini-arthouse theatrical distribution, and did virtually no box office. It won't do much better on video, because the high-volume Blockbuster in my neighborhood did not even order one copy of the DVD for rental  - despite the fact that the film stars Christian Bale and came out on video the same day as the world premiere of Batman! 

I don't mean to imply that the film's narrow appeal indicates a lack of quality. Not at all. The Machinist has an intriguing story, and is performed well, especially by Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Michael Ironside. I was not only hooked into the mystery plot, but I also admired all the work that went into the film's sights and sounds. The director, the cinematographer, and the composer managed to do an excellent job on the look and tone of the film, allowing the audience to share the machinist's distorted perspective. The script allowed the audience to understand more about the delusion than the machinist could understand, yet not too much more. By never fully pulling away the veil of madness, the director allowed the mystery to unravel at the proper pace. Although I can see why the film would be unattractive to most filmgoers, I thought it was terrific.

Tuna's notes

Scoopy did a good job of walking the fine line between discussing the plot of this film and revealing too much, so I see no point in repeating that exercise.

The Machinist was written on spec by Scott Kosar out of film school, and made the Hollywood rounds. Eventually, Brad Anderson attached himself to the project and started looking for financing. He finally had to go to Spain to make the film. The producers wanted to use local Spanish talent for minor roles and then dub, but Anderson resisted, and hired mostly expatriate Americans and Brits, with Aitana Sanchez-Gijon rounding out the cast.

It garnered many awards and nominations for the look and feel and for Christian Bale's uncanny commitment to the part. Bale not only lost a full third of his body weight to play this role, but managed a perfect American accent, and Jennifer Jason Leigh supported him with a fine performance as the stereotypical hooker with a heart of gold.

In polar contrast to Scoopy, who liked it and could see why many people would not, I didn't like it so much but can see why many would. I often dislike overly dark material, and I don't like the constant feeling that the director is playing games with me. This sort of manipulation works much better for me when the director does it the way he did in Fight Club, where I had no idea I was being tricked through the entire film, but on watching it a second time, saw that all the subtle clues were there. In The Machinist, the manipulation was too obvious, and therefore a turnoff. In the opening scene, we see Bale unroll a carpet containing a body into the water. There is no doubt, as we see shoes and ankles sticking out of the blanket. This is the first clue not to believe a thing the director shows.