The Machinist (2004)

You're gonna start thinking I am a shill for Netflix. I assure you at the time of this posting I have no other affiliation with Netflix outside of being a happy customer. That being disclaimed on with the review....
Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) is a machinist (a lathe operator to be precise) who, according to him, "hasn't slept in a year." He begins to doubt his own sanity as he cannot begin to be able to tell what is real and what are figments of his imagination. This, coupled with Post-It notes that keep accumulating on his refrigerator, makes him wonder if he losing his own mind or is someone helping him lose it?

Bale, best known for his roles as tough-guy heroes like The Dark Knight/Batman and Melvin Pervis in Public Enemies, looks like a concentration camp prisoner in this Hitchcock-like psychological thriller. It is said to him a couple of times in the movie by a couple of different people, "if you were any thinner you wouldn't exist." Does he exist? The movie follows his mundane existence as he goes to work, goes to see his prostitute girlfriend played by Jennifer Jason Leigh (has she ever been in a movie where she didn't show her boobs? - not that there's anything wrong with that), goes to eat in an airport diner and goes to the bar.

The Machinist (<----click for a clip) kept me guessing all of the time. Was he crazy? Was he asleep? Are these flashbacks? Are they premonitions? What's real and what isn't real? At one point someone asks him "are you turning into a werewolf or something?" Is it paranoia? Psychosis? Hallucinations? Is he going completely mad? I think I guessed every possible scenario while watching the movie because I love to be clever enough to figure out what is going on and I usually do. And I did with this movie too but that's because I thought of every possible conclusion so I would have to be right. The Hangman puzzle was easy to solve.

The movie is very dark and disturbing and gruesome a few times but it is entertaining. If you're looking for a lot of action you may be disappointed. The film follows the mundane daily life of a blue collar worker who is trying to figure out what is going on in his 24-hour-a-day awake life. The movie reminded me a lot of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers like Shadow of a Doubt or Rear Window. It's not Hitchcock (nothing is) but it's in the same vein. I was glued to the screen the entire time to see what would happen next so I guess that's what I look for in this type of film so, based on that, I have to tell you The Machinist is worth a view though, as I mentioned earlier, there is some nudity, a lot of swearing and a few gruesome scenes so make sure the youngsters aren't around.  Now...enjoy the show.