IMDb user comments for
El maquinista (2004) More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 38:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

372 comments in total

---

301 out of 335 people found the following comment useful :-
A strong mood piece, but not for everyone, 29 October 2004

Author: Craig Estrella (Surecure) from Toronto, Canada

There are many good things about The Machinist that are well deserving of praise. The very atmospheric nature of the film is supported very strongly by excellent performances all around. Christian Bale takes things to the extreme in his embodiment of his character. It is hard to take seeing him in his near-starvation body mass, which elevates the tension of this piece even further. The storyline leaves a little to be desired. While it creates its mood excellently, it does tend to plod along a little too much.

One thing that does stand out is how reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock this film plays. Almost everything about the film screams Hitchcock, from the editing of certain scenes (the driving sequences are very much in the style of Psycho) to the Bernard Herrmann-esquire score (lots of bass clarinet), the lack of fully-exploring/revealing some of the creepier points of the film (what is dripping from the fridge?), and the washed out, grainy photography. If you want to see what a film would look like if Hitchcock were alive to film it today, this is the closest thing you could probably come across. And if that was part of Brad Anderson's intention in directing this, I have to commend him on the execution because it is uncanny.

Overall, I would recommend this film, but not to casual movie-goers. This is very much a movie-phile experience for those who appreciate character development and cinematography as much as plot points and a storyline that can be defined and followed from one action to the next. In that way it is closer to films like Magnolia or the Others, where the apex is the characters. If you are looking for a typical popcorn Hollywood thriller, this is not what you are looking for.

---

246 out of 275 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting, 21 November 2004
Author: Mattias Petersson from Stockholm, Sweden

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw this film at the Stockholm International Film Festival in November 2004. In the audience was director Brad Anderson, and i think he very much appreciated how the film was received by the rest of the audience. And this film was well worth the applause.

This film is about a man (Christian Bale) working in a heavy industry. He suffers from insomnia and hasn't slept for a year. This condition is causing him to lose weight, and his perception of reality to become twisted. Soon he doesn't know what's real or not.

I won't elaborate any more on the plot since it could really spoil the film for you. There are some twists and turns along the way that might not be all that obvious and you should be able to enjoy them without being told too much. What i can say though is that the story is in no way revolutionary. A couple of films have been made in the same vein as this one, the most famous perhaps being Memento and Fight Club. And "The Machinist" shares elements from both these films but still, i think, manages to create an identity of it's own.

But aside from the story, Christian Bale really steals the show. Having seen him in his previous films it's hard to be prepared for what he looks like here. For this film he has turned himself into a walking skeleton, a run-down shadow of a man. And his performance is, throughout the movie, mesmerizing. I have ever since American Psycho been fully convinced of Bale's talents as an actor, and this further proves his talent and commitment. The rest of the cast also do a good job, strengthening the overall strange mood of the film.

Although i thoroughly enjoyed this film i understand it's not for everyone. This is not the least proved by the fact that Brad Anderson (as he stated in the interview after the screening) could not get funding for it in America. Instead he had to go to Spain to make the film the way he wanted to. And i'm not surprised, this is not your standard Hollywood fare. But for those of us who enjoy films that go beyond the will to suit everyone (and make loads of money) this is a rewarding experience. I rate it 7/10.

---

204 out of 257 people found the following comment useful :-
'Thinner' meets 'Memento' by way of 'Angel Heart' a la Hitchcock, 25 October 2004
Author: george.schmidt (george.schmidt@hbo.com) from fairview, nj

THE MACHINST (2004) ***1/2 Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, Reg E. Cathey.

'Thinner' meets 'Memento' by way of 'Angel Heart' a la Hitchcock

There are a few select actors who have gained or shed weight to make a true transformation on screen but the one that will probably remain imprinted for years to come is the truly shocking display by Christian Bale who lost a whopping 63 lbs. to a skeletal shell of 120 for his portrayal of dank creepy perfection.

Bale stars as the afflicted Trevor Reznik, a shell of a man who works in a machine factory and apparently is nursing some horrible demon that has led to his astonishing appearance, ghostly pallor and paranoia soaked delusions that call to question his amazing confession: How can a man not sleep for an entire year and waste away to a shadow of his being and keep his sanity?

The answer isn't so transparent as Reznik becomes submerged in some sort of dreamscape nightmare of conspiracy theories and the innate distrust of his own mind playing tricks on him one night when he encounters the perpetually grinning Ivan (Sharian sporting the sharkiest Cheshire Cat smile in recent film memory) an apparently new shift employee who distracts him to the point of a horrific accident that causes his employer and co-worker to mistrust him and suspect his deteriorating looks as something a tad more sinister.

Reznik's only solace is in literally a mother-whore relationship he shares with a well-meaning lovely waitress (Sanchez-Gizon) at the airport diner he frequents as much as the hooker he lies with to express his thoughts and odd happenings (Leigh in her umpteenth whore role that must have filled her quota by now).

After the accident Reznik is plagued with a series of Post-Its sporting a game of hangman that leads to a few clues to his rationale and ultimately to his fate of 'Who Am I?'

Directed by Anderson who helmed the criminally underrated spooky horror flick 'Session 9' a few years back returns to a dark story of a man clearly unraveling and destroying himself in the process that echoes Stephen King's 'Thinner' by way of the identity crises of 'Memento' and the psychological thriller 'Angel Heart' yet invokes a sharply executed script by Scott Kosar (who penned the worthy remake of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' last year) that recalls David Fincher meets David Lynch paroxysms of fate and the build up to a discovery that is all too recognizable to the thriller genre in recent years of identity masked as phobic reality with its latter day Hitchcock everyman skewed nicely. Kudos to cinematographers Xavi Gimenez and Charlie Jiminez for its bleak, green/grey drudgery and the Herrmannesque score by Roque Banos mixes perfectly to the dread at hand displays.

Bale went above and beyond the call of duty in his somewhat controversial display of Holocaust invoking demeanor yet it works shockingly well as it delves into the troubled soul of a man who is wasting away not only as a metaphor but as a penance for some hell to pay.

---

155 out of 180 people found the following comment useful :-
A grower, 17 April 2005

Author: Superunknovvn from Austria, Vienna

It's a common rule that people subconsciously decide within the first ten minutes whether they like a movie or not. It didn't even take me that long to know that I would be intrigued by "The Machinist".

The set up is perfect. It's adorable how the movie constantly establishes new plot points without ever getting tedious. As the story goes on it gets hard to believe that the ending will be able to explain everything and you start pondering that there can only be one possible conclusion for all the weird events. It may be disappointing at first to learn that your predictions are probably dead-on and you might go: "Not that old twist again." The beautiful thing, however, is that there's an explanation to the twist that really adds a lot to the concept. Much later, when you've already left the theater and you rethink the whole thing, you'll find that the script is much cleverer than you had thought at first. To me the biggest achievement of the movie in retrospective is, that it's never creepy just for the sake of freaking the audience out (and hell, the carnival-sequence is so friggin creepy and well made, it's delightful). Every scene has its purpose and that is not often the case in horror and mystery movies.

Although the whole cast did a fine job, Christian Bale's terrific performance must be mentioned. Usually I'm annoyed by stories about actors losing or gaining weight in preparation for a role, because mostly it's uncalled for anyway and not even worth a mention. What Bale did to prepare for "The Machinist", however, is nothing short of heroic. He lost 60 pounds and looks so unhealthy throughout the whole movie that it's hard to believe he turned into himself again after the director yelled "cut!".

I can recommend "The Machinist" to anybody who's looking for a movie that keeps you intrigued longer than just during its running time. If after 10 minutes you like the movie, after days you'll find yourself still obsessed with it. I love it, when a movie does that to me!

---

138 out of 179 people found the following comment useful :-
Dostoyevsky and The Machinist, 25 March 2005

Author: Jake Murray from United Kingdom

I really enjoyed this film. It reminded me of 21 Grams, Jacob's Ladder and Memento. Perhaps the finale left a few questions unanswered or felt a little anti-climactic but an amazing performance by Christian Bale. Haunted, brave, vulnerable, murderous but also very moving. A film which stays with you.

Now, here's an eggheaded thing, but did anyone notice the constant stream of Dostoyevsky references in the movie? Not only did Resnick (remind anyone of Raskolnikov?) put down a copy of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot at one point but the whole movie owed a lot to Notes From The Underground, Crime And Punishment and The Double. Did anyone spot the sign in the Ghost Train sequence which read Crime And Punishment? Or that Sharian's character is called Ivan (cf The Brothers Karamazov - especially the chapter Ivan's Dream)? Jennifer Jason Leigh's character is very familiar from Dostoyevsky, as was the saintly Maria.

Its a cracking film and none of these references are indispensable to enjoying it but I thought I would point it out.

---

111 out of 142 people found the following comment useful :-
darkly atmospheric horror/mystery, 15 December 2004

Author: ThrownMuse from The land of the Bunyips

Trever Reznick is an industrial machine operator who hasn't slept in a year and feels as if he is going crazy. A horrible accident in the workplace causes him to fall further down the spiral. Is there a conspiracy against him or is he going insane? The lead character is played with discomforting perfection by a repulsively thin and unrecognizable Christian Bale. This is a very moody and atmospheric film that is reminiscent of Lynch (though, by the end, it is a much more spelled-out than Lynch would do for the viewer). Still, it is a very gripping and disturbing movie. "The Machinist" is one of the better horror films released this year. My Rating: 8.5/10

---

92 out of 113 people found the following comment useful :-
A Dark and Spooky Psychological Thriller, 22 November 2004
Author: noralee from Queens, NY

"The Machinist" demonstrates that "Session 9" wasn't the only creepy thriller that Brad Anderson could do.

While M. Night Shyamalan and commercial fare like "The Grudge" get the attention and the big bucks, Anderson is quietly mastering disturbing, psychologically scary shockers. While the previous movie took advantage of our imaginations leaping around a spooky environment, "The Machinist" makes our discomfort palpably visual in Christian Bale's painful to look at body, as his character is ravaged by insomnia and loss of appetite; by the end of the movie it's shocking to see his normally handsome face.

But all the focus on his astounding weight loss takes away from the other elements in the almost black and white film that make it a scare fest. The movie establishes "The Twilight Zone" mood immediately with the soundtrack, which includes generous use of the theremin, as Hitchcock did in "Psycho." The production design is excellent at supporting the mood.

The suspense builds and is sustained through to the satisfying conclusion as you genuinely get involved in Bale's efforts to solve the increasingly mysterious happenings around him. Even though you are pretty sure he could be hallucinating, you are intrigued to figure out the trigger.

Despite looking like a caricature of a Holocaust victim, Bale creates a full character, from the jocular male camaraderie of the factory where he doesn't quite seem to fit in to responding one beat off to the warmth of the two women in his life, a waitress and a prostitute with the an open heart of gold (played, as usual by Jennifer Jason Leigh, but effectively languid).

---

111 out of 159 people found the following comment useful :-
Haunting and Incredible!, 4 December 2004

Author: Tool Man (tim.taylor@americawest.com) from Mesa, Arizona

Saw this incredible movie tonight and all I can say is WOW!! This movie is one you should definitely see if you enjoy such quality films like Vertigo, Psycho and most recently Identity. Massive kudos to Christian Bale who turned himself into a skeleton for the role and the wonderfully articulate pace of the director! As you watched it, you knew that there were answers at the end and the journey was simply captivating! Also fine, fine work by Michael Ironside and the absolutely gorgeous Jennifer Jason-Leigh who to this day looks just as hot as she did in Fast Times! If you have a chance to see this film and an open mind, make the trip to the ciniplex! Fantastic film!

---

70 out of 110 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nutshell Review: The Machinist, 10 February 2005

Author: DICK STEEL from Singapore

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There is a purpose in watching this movie, and that is to check out Christian Bales's acting chops before his Batman Begins opens in the summer.

The narrative is confusing at first. There doesn't seem to be any clear direction on where the plot and its subplots lead to. All we know is Bale looks thin, for some reason, isn't getting enough sleep, and develops relationships with a widow, her kid, and a hooker.

As always, most dark thrillers have a twist at the end, and if you can sit tight, you'll get it - not that it will be presented in a confusing manner, just that the pacing could be improved. Actually with shows like Fight Club and Memento around, this show might feel like a fusion between the two, and hence, you might have warranted a guess on the twist midway through the show.

Christian Bale has sacrificed quite a bit to look the role. With the lingering full body shots of his anorexic body, which at times is painful to look at, one can imagine the kind of toil it must have took.

Definite for fans of mysteries and thrillers.

---

38 out of 48 people found the following comment useful :-
Very effective thriller, 21 September 2005

Author: kakihara83 from Canada

Though it's obviously not for everyone, The Machinist is one hell of a movie! I actually study the field of psychology at school. I really enjoy reading Freud's theories. What I'm saying is, from a psychological point of view, this movie makes sense. Everything is so perfectly done you feel involved with the main character more and more every single minute. You drown with him. You like him, you hate him, you think he's crazy, but you're in the ride with the guy and you have to stay until the end. And what en ending! I won't spoil anything. How could I? This movie is a living nightmare from the beginning to the very end. It's a trip straight to hell! The performance by Christian Bale (American Psycho, Batman Begins) is absolutely terrific. I don't know how he got so skinny and I guess I don't want to know. All the actors are great, but Bale really shines! The directing and editing are equally amazing, and the story's just awesome. I'm not a big fan of psychological horror films. I'm usually looking more for blood and guts. But here the real horrors are in the head of one psycho dude. So, unlike usual horror films, it's a movie to watch with your brain on and you'll have a scary good time!!

---

---

Page 1 of 38:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Plot synopsis	Ratings
Awards	Newsgroup reviews	External reviews
Parents Guide	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user comments	Your vote history