Machinist

I watched one messed-up movie last night, called the Machinist. Without giving too much away, it tells the story of an insomniac machinist who has not slept in a year. Due to his lack of sleep, he becomes increasingingly paranoid. The narrative basically follows his attempts at figuring out who is after him (real or imagined).

It reminded me a lot of Memento because of the main character's disorientation with time and his surroundings. In Memento, the ailment was lack of long-term memory. In the Machinist, it is extreme insomnia.



The Machinist is also remininiscent of Hitchcock movies, especially Vertigo. Ostensibly it's a mystery, but ultimately the truth that is discovered says more about the main character than anything else.

The physical transformation of Christian Bale required for this movie makes that of Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones' Diary piddling in comparison. He went down to 120 pounds. In comparison, he weighed 220 when filming Batman Begins. He was so emaciated that he looked like a walking skeleton. He definitely took method acting to the next level ... a la Robert De Niro.

I recommend it but only if you like depressing character studies. I do.