Review: Christian Bale Rail-Thin in “The Machinist”
The Machinist, directed by Brad Anderson, is an atmospheric and unsettling psychological thriller that ponders the consequences of living in a nightmare you cannot wake up from. It features an extremely emaciated Christian Bale who lost 63 lbs — down to 120 lbs– for the role. He reportedly wanted to get his weight down all the way to 99 lbs but the filmmakers would not let him process for his sake. Talk about dedication to his craft!
Trevor Resnick (Christian Bale) is a machine-shop operator who suffers from a severe form of insomnia and hasn’t slept in a year. This condition has left him shockingly thin and increasingly paranoid, blurring the line between what is real and what is not. When Trevor meets a mysterious new co-worker named Ivan (John Sharian), his life turns for the worse. While helping a co-worker (Michael Ironside) repair his machine, the exhausted Trevor is distracted by Ivan and causes a terrible accident. Trevor becomes even more paranoiac and convinced that everyone is plotting against him when he is told that no one has ever heard of a new worker named Ivan.
Christian Bale undergoes a career-defining physical transformations here and his extreme thinness is quite unsettling, even worrisome to watch. He is literally skin and bones and certainly put his health at risk but this doesn’t distract much from his terrific performance as the physically and psychologically decaying Trevor Resnick. This is certainly his movie as he is virtually on every frame and everything is shot from his point of view, so that we know nothing more than he does and follow his thought processes as he attempts to uncover the mystery of his life. Is he hallucinating? Slipping into madness? Lonely, alienated, living in a crummy apartment, Trevor finds a little solace when he spends most evenings at an all-night coffee bar at the airport, where he befriends a waitress, the cheerful Marie (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón). He also regularly visits a good-hearted prostitute, Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is clearly taken to him and is the only person he can confide to.
Beautifully shot in Barcelona but given the impression that it could be any nondescript American city, The Machinist has a grim, desaturated and menacing cinematography that leads the viewer to see the world through Trevor’s eyes. Brad Anderson extracts fine performances from his cast. The always reliable Leigh is noteworthy, her healthy figure counterbalancing Bale’s skeletal presence. “If you were any thinner, you wouldn’t exist”, she often tells Trevor. The soundtrack by Rogue Banos is solid, contributing to the Hitchcock-like feel of the movie. Quickly paced at a compact 101 minutes, the film is gripping and intense until the final chapter where, as the mystery is gradually unearthed, the solution is somewhat disappointing in how simplistic and predictable it really all was.
An atmospheric psychological thriller, The Machinist falls a bit short at the end despite a haunting performance from Christian Bale.
B
(7/10)
Lesson of the Day: Watch that road!
Notes: Rated R for violence and disturbing images, sexuality and language., 101 min.
49 Comments
I love this film so very much, I was wrapped up in this film so much, that I didn’t even see the ending coming. I really loved everything about this, Bale, Leigh, and Ironside – I love it.
I do really enjoy how this is a “foreign” film.
I was a bit disappointed by the ending which I saw coming about 10 minutes before it actually is revealed but overall, very good movie with great performances and a really enveloping atmosphere.
I think I was just so wrapped up into the mystique of the film that I didn’t see it coming. It happens to me from time to time, I just remember, while the ending was unfolding, I was just like…whoa…
My friend keeps saying how I should see this since I love Bale, but I kind of have trepidations in seeing it. He actually said the ending was very good, so I guess I have to see it for myself to make up my own mind.
It’s crazy to see how much weight he’s lost, man he could’ve died!! He’s almost as skinny again now for The Fighter. This yo-yoing can’t be good for his body, unless he’s got some superstar dietitian monitoring him 24/7!
Even with a dietitian, it’s still a very dangerous and health-harming task!
It’s strange – I didn’t know it was produced overseas, what with Ironside and Bale, but it did just have that “foreign film” feeling, the generic “otherness” to it.
Oh, love this movie…I don’t find Bale’s weight that frightening though. There’s a guy I know who’s twice as thin, 6 ft tall, and has an eyepatch, and that’s a lot more unnerving, y’know.
Ahaha, twice as skinny? I’m sure you are exaggerating but that’s really scary. Feed him some steak and potatoes will you?
Wow… that guy must exist in like one dimension…
That’s the weird part. He eats more than anyone, like. five meals a day. I think he might’ve gone the way of Palahniuk’s “Guts”.
There’s a also a vegan I know who’s pretty fat. Either he’s a liar, or what.
I guarantee you that it’s all about food intake. If he eats enough, he will get bigger. Eating 5 meals doesn’t mean anything if at the end of the day, it totals like 2000 calories (or even less).
This is another one of those movies that I’ve just kept meaning too, but never got around to seeing. If for no other reason than seeing Christian Bale’s physical transformation.
It’s freaky at times. Sometimes it feels like it just can’t be right and is – for my money – the most effective part of the film. You get the sense that Bale could have played Gollum without CGI if he set his mind to it.
Bale is good here, but I found it too slow. His weight loss was unnerving though.
It’s impressive that this was shot in Barcelona. They fooled me completely.
I also found it somewhat slow and plodding. Never got into it, though Bale, as usual, gives a fine performance.
The ending in this is like The Sixth Sense, where if you watch it all over again, it makes perfect sense.
I actually found that The Sixth Sense kinda falls apart on a rewatch. There are several scene transitions which become noticeable (as in, where a key character is and what must have logically happened to put him there). It’s a good film, and still packs a punch, but I think the best part of it is the twist the first time you watch it.
Now, The Prestige… that’s a movie with a twist (multiple ones) that gets better and better.
I totally love this film and agree with you that Bale’s weight is worrisome. Especially considering after The Machinist, he bulked up so much for Batman, and then totally emaciated himself again for Herzog’s Rescue Dawn. All that can’t be good for his heart.
Check out some pictures of him for his upcoming film, The Fighter – not what you’d think he’d look like.
This is a fun little film. I think a B is fair because the story is a bit thin but a totally, surprisingly enjoyable flick.
FUN FACT: Bale almost didn’t get cast as Batman because the studio execs met with him after he finished this movie and didn’t think he could get himself in shape for the part… it’s a testimony to Bale that he was able to get yolked for Batman Begins!
And he actually got TOO heavy for Batman Begins, leading to the crew jokingly calling him “Fatman”. He had to lose a little bit of weight again.
While I appreciate Bale’s devotion to his craft, he didn’t do a lot for me in this aside from the astonishing weight loss. And as Yoda might say, “scary physical transformation does not a great performance make.”
I think this one had been hyped up for too much for me to enjoy it. i thought it was very slow and it felt overlong, even if it was just 100 minutes as you say. I suppose it was okay, but the entire story felt quite tepid and it was ridiculously predictable. I don’t usually complain about predictability in movies, but this one really had nothing else to offer aside from the big “twist” (unlike Shutter Island for example).
I’d give it about a C. Rescue Dawn was a much better film if you are in the “watching skinny dudes” kind of mood.
Peyton and I figured out what the “twist” was in Shutter Island 40 minutes into it. I’m just sayin’…
I never said it wasn’t predictable. What I said was that it has so much else to offer that it doesn’t matter if you aren’t surprised by the twist.
I think it’s the sign of a great “twist” that it adds to the movie. In my opinion both this film and Shutter Island are improved by their twists. Shyamalan movies I am less certain of.
Shyamalan knows how to make a film, I didn’t care for The Sixth Sense that much, but I LOVED Unbreakable through Lady in the Water. He’s able to shape a really unique story.
Yep, I’m with you on Unbreakable, probably my favourite of his films, to be honest. Lady in the Water wasn’t as bad as most say, but I didn’t think it was great.
I, also, always wanted to check this film, but never got around to. I admit, it’s no that it interests me that much; it’s the curiosity concerning Bale’s transformation. It’s still strange to me to see someone so devoted to the craft, to put even his life at risk for a role.
The movie was CRAZY! I really liked it, I’m not usually a fan of really dark movies like this, but Bale puts in such a good performance that I couldn’t help but like it, I can’ believe how HUNGRY the guy must of been during the movie’s filming!
Pretty decent flick. I still find it incredible that he was able to lose sixty pounds for the role. It definitely shows how dedicated he is for authenticity. I heard that he did the same diet (but to a way lesser extent) for his role in The Fighter.
The Machinist is a tough film to watch but I like that it is brave enough to tackle the issue of guilt and the human need to forgive and to be forgiven, bringing to attention in an unusual aesthetic that is distinctive and alternative, the importance of accountability for one’s actions and their consequences but crucially the potential for redemption from the worst of personal experiences.
That is the best comment I’ve ever heard about this film.
Such an eloquent comment, Ronan, wow! I really should see this if I can get past how scary Bale looks.
Still have yet to see this film, but the news with Christian Bale still shocks me. Looking at pictures of him in this and then seeing him turn around and bulk up to 200+ in muscle for Batman Begins is unbelievable. Dedicated no doubt.
Really liked this film. Was actually talking about it with somebody the other day, because I need to start getting in good shape for deployment and that I should just go on the Christian Bale diet of a can of tuna and an apple every day. That’s all he ate to lose weight for this role (tuna is 50 calories, and if you eat the right apple, that can be -50 calories).
Of course a diet like that isn’t exactly safe.
I’d say this was the film that secured Cristian Bale as one of the true talents of modern cinema. If American Psycho didn’t prove his talent, this certainly did.
Yep, now if he wasn’t such an @$$hole…
I would have never guessed the film was made in Barcelona, I would have sworn it was made in Detroit or another blue-collar city.
Wow. Disturbing. It’s a shame. I got so hyped up reading the review, it sounds like the ending was an enormous let down.
No, it wasn’t an “enormous” letdown lol. It was a solid ending, just a bit disappointing given all the intricacies and complexity of the movie leading up to it
Yep – the ending twist is one of those that you can call about ten minutes before it’s revealed. That’s probably a good thing from a storytelling point of view (in that it “fits” the narrative), but can a little bit underwhelming in a… “that’s it?” sort of way.
Bale is really creepy in that picture, he’s even creepier than Joker.
Yea, he looks like a concentration camp survivor…
after watching this movie, I felt a bit sorry for Bale – the movie wasn’t good enough for such outstanding and dramatic performance that he gave. This movie didn’t deserve him, unfortunately.
If you can get past the frail looking Bale, this movie is supremely well done. Such an amazing character study and what a twist ending (even though you saw it coming). Great, now I gotta see this again:) Awesome write up Castor!
Between Bale and Depp I don’t think there’s any actor as devoted to their craft as far as method acting goes…maybe Kilmer but he’s still way behind those two.
I liked this movie just like you: good until the predictable ending.
The issue I have with Bale’s weight is that we all say he was dedicated to his craft by losing 63 pounds. However, if an A-list actress did the same thing, I fear she’d be degraded for it, with people saying that’s no way a role model should behave for younger female viewers. It seems like it could be a double standard, assuming it would ever happen.
I think this is different Rachel. If an actress was to intentionally lose a lot of weight and look unhealthy (as in Bale’s case) specifically because the role calls for it (character is sick for example) then it would be obvious to most that she is really “dedicated” to her craft.
Instead, what we see today are actresses being pushed, most of the time by producers or directors, to look really thin to perpetuate this illusion that skinny is beautiful. The fact that they are skinny doesn’t bring anything to the role and isn’t required to play the character.
Spot on.
I caught this at Sundance in 04… I was utterly convinced that Bale had a stand-in during the Q & A because he had already buffed up for Batman by that point.
I never cease to be amazed at how in depth Anderson got with the little clues through the film. I’m still seeing new ones every time I watch it.
Hi I love this film..Your review is damn good…Thanks for sharing
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