The Machinist [2004]
Director: Brad Anderson
Actor: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Trevor is plagued by insomnia. He hasn’t slept for a year, and his body is quickly deteriorating. Weighing only 120 pounds, he’s skin over bones. He works as a machinist in a factory and his co-workers and supervisors are concerned for his health, and concerned that he might be doing drugs. After a particularly difficult discussion with is supervisor about his health he goed outside to have a smoke and meets Ivan. A tall, heavy-set, bald man with an ugly but amicable grin. He says he’s replacing one of Trevor’s colleagues as a welder at the factory. Later, Ivan deliberately distracts Trevor while he’s helping another colleague do maintenance on one of the machines and because of that his colleague loses an arm. When questioned, Trevor mentions Ivan, whom his supervisors claim doesn’t work there. Upon inspection, Trevor finds that this mysterious Ivan hasn’t replaced the man that he said he did. Trevor is haunted by Ivan, and goes in pursuit of him, slowly questioning his own sanity.
This film reminds me a lot of Jacob’s Ladder, starring Tim Robbins, where you never really know if what the obviously disturbed main character is seeing is real or fiction. Christian Bale does an excellent job of portraying the intelligent Trevor – reading Dostoyevsky, knowing union regulations by heart, while still working as a blue collar machine operator. He went from 186 pounds to 120 pounds in order to prepare for the role as Trevor, which is the highest recorded weight loss in preparation of a role ever. He wanted to go to 100 pounds, but the producers wouldn’t let him, since that would greatly jeopardise his health.
