Movies - The Machinist

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	Movies - The Machinist

The Machinist is a 2004 drama/thriller film, written by Scott Kosar, directed by Brad Anderson and starring Christian Bale.

Bale, who plays the protagonist, Trevor Reznik, starved himself for several weeks prior to filming, as his character needed to look drastically thin. He reportedly lost over 60 pounds (27 kg), around a 1/3 of his body weight. He later regained the weight, plus an additional fifteen pounds due to weightlifting, during his preparation for playing the lead in his next film, Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins
.

Despite being set in a West Coast American city, the film was shot in its entirety in Barcelona, Spain.

Plot

Trevor Reznik (Bale) has not slept for over a year, and has become extremely emaciated. He does not know what is wrong, and carries on working as a machinist. His alarming appearance and behaviour cause his co-workers to shy away from him; they eventually turn on him after he is involved in an accident that costs a man his left arm. Trevor, distracted by an unfamiliar coworker named Ivan (Sharian), bears the blame for the accident. No one at the factory admits knowing "Ivan", however, and there are no records that he was ever an employee. Trevor seems to find peace only in the arms of Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a prostitute who develops genuine affection for him, or in the company of Marie (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), a waitress at the airport diner where he spends his nights.

Growing increasingly distracted and alienated, Trevor forgets to pay his utility bills and his electricity is disconnected. A mysterious series of Post-it notes that appear on his refrigerator depict a game of hangman; these vaguely threatening incidents send Trevor further into paranoia. Another near-accident at work causes him to lash out in incoherent rage, for which he is fired. Trevor is no longer able to think clearly, and begins to suspect that the bizarre events in his life are a concerted effort to drive him insane. He nevertheless attempts to establish a tentative romantic relationship with Marie. Meeting her at an amusement park, Trevor accompanies her son Nicholas on a grotesque funhouse ride that causes the boy to suffer an epileptic seizure.

After several unsuccessful attempts at confronting Ivan, Trevor tries to trace him through his license plate. When the DMV clerk insists that he cannot release personal information unless a crime has been committed, Trevor flings himself in front of a car in order to accuse Ivan of striking him and leaving the scene. After filing a police report with the plate number, the battered Trevor is dumbfounded when the investigator tells him that the car in question was reported stolen a year ago by its owner, Trevor Reznik: himself.

In the film's climax, Trevor realizes that he was involved in a hit-and-run car accident a year ago in which a young boy was killed. The guilt and shame he feels over the boy's death have caused his insomnia and drastic weight loss. Trevor has invented not only Ivan as a manifestation of his responsibility for the accident, but also an imaginary relationship with Marie, the mother of the boy he killed. He turns himself in to the police and at long last falls asleep in a holding cell.

Tagline: A little guilt goes a long way...

Quotes

Miller: I need a hand.
Stevie: If you were any thinner, you wouldn't exist.

Trivia

Scott Kosar, the writer of the screenplay, was noted during the movie commentary on the DVD release to have stated that the plot was influenced by the Dostoevsky story The Double: A Petersburg Poem. The Reznik character is also depicted once reading Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Reznik's imagined alter ego is named Ivan, a possible reference to the character Ivan Karamazov, who is racked with guilt, goes insane, and has nightmares of the devil in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. In addition, when Reznik is riding the 'Route 666' attraction one of the faux movie marquees reads "Crime and Punishment", another Dostoevsky reference.

The name Trevor Reznik is an alteration of Trent Reznor, whose music under the guise of Nine Inch Nails features guilt and despairing feelings as well as machining and factory sounds as predominant themes.

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