Hannah's Pick - The Machinist

Once again, it is Wednesday, which means, once again, the movie is a pick from my sister in-law, Hannah.  I doubt I have shared much about Hannah, but she and I have one awesome trait in common, and that is the ability to not sleep when we want to sleep.  My insomnia has been a lot better in the last year and a half, but I still get it from time to time.  Hannah's escapades trump anything I can pull of these days, and she seems to be the queen of not being able to sleep.  If you have seen The Machinist, you can understand why I am talking about insomnia.  If you have not seen this movie, I will share a bit about it.

The movie follows the character of Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) who is a machinist by occupation (hence the title of the film) who suffers from severe insomnia.  Reznik claims that he has gone without sleep for a year, and goes about his life at times in an almost zombie like state.  His health has depreciated to the point where he is skin and bones, and looks incredibly sickly.  After an accident at work where a co-worker loses a limb, Reznik begins to be tormented by a mysterious man.  As the movie progresses, Reznik battles to keep his sanity and to find out the identity of his tormentor.

Christian Bale went to very extreme lengths for this film.  I at times get a bit frustrated when it seems some actors won't even get a different haircut for various films as it seems some people are stuck on just projecting the image of their star.  Bale is not one of those people, as he cut his body weight down to 120 pounds to play Reznik.  This has a profound effect on the movie, as we are constantly visually reminded of just how ill his character is.  Physical nature aside, Bale's performance is very captivating as he plays a character who is just trying to get through each day, lonely and seeking companionship in the arms of a prostitute and the listening ear of a waitress.

The film is very visually interesting as well.  For the most part, it is shot in very dull colours and only uses bright colours sparingly to allow the items to stick out and almost seem otherworldly in the dreary surroundings.  Scattered throughout the movie are recurring visuals that either work themselves organically into the scenes or are part of flashback type moments which gives the feel of a mystery to be solved.  As the plot progresses, it is very easy for the audience to be sucked right in as we are trying to make sense of everything we are seeing and put the puzzle pieces together correctly.

The Machinist is one of those movies that never really caught on in theatres, as it was never able to get out of the limited release phase and get to wide release status, playing in only 72 cinemas at its peak.  It was created by Paramount Classics, the 'art-house' division of Paramount Pictures, which no longer exists.  While all of the major studios seemed to have an arm devoted to alternative movie concepts, they appear to be dying off with only Sony Pictures Classics and Fox Searchlight remaining.  Universal's Focus Features recently got a new head who has closed its international offices as well as appearing to turn its attention towards mainstream fair, a direction which indicates that studios are giving up on finding the quality films.  If you have read some of my other reviews, you may be picking up on the evidence of this as I mentioned that Ron Howard's Rush was an independent film because studios were not interested, and that Oscar hopeful 12 Years a Slave only got produced because of Brad Pitt's attachment to it.

Why am I bringing this up?  Because The Machinist is a great example of the types of movies and concepts that are out there that would never be produced if studios are only interested in discovering the next big franchise.  Most people think of limited release movies as being in black and white with subtitles and symbolism, but they can also be quality films with intriguing and intellectual stories.  My point being, there are so many amazing movies out there that are waiting for audiences to discover them because studios never saw the potential for big dollars.  If you are up for a film that you could have never seen in theatres, The Machinist is a very entertaining watch.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars