Christian Bale takes method acting to whole new extremes as he sheds four and a half stone from his frame to play Trevor Reznick, a blue-collar machinist plagued by insomnia. Unable to sleep properly for almost a year, the deeply lonely Reznick is tormented by his colleagues after a momentarily lapse of concentration causes fellow worker, Miller (B movie stalwart Michael Ironside) to lose an arm. Since his only emotional release is a world-weary but kind-hearted prostitute (Jennifer Jason-Leigh), Reznick's world slips into further decline when he's confronted by a burly stranger called Ivan (John Sharian), who seems to know more about the machinist's life than he does himself.
Several years ago Brad Anderson directed a compelling psychological thriller called Session 9 and he repeats the trick with the clinical and unsettling The Machinist. Displaying a true stylist's eye, Anderson makes full use of a palette of washed out colours and stark backdrops to create an unnerving atmosphere, exacerbated by the hollow, skeleton-like figure of Bale. Even if his visual finesse cannot be faulted, Anderson doesn't always maintain the same steely grip on his narrative - the material flagging significantly for a period deep in the second half as the film threatens to peter out in an inconsequential and obvious fashion. That he manages to re-connect with The Machinist and brings the material to such a clever resolution means that this collected director is certainly one to keep an eye on in the future. In the meantime, let's hope Bale remembers to eat breakfast.
