Movie Review: The Machinist

The Machinist
Director: Brad Anderson
Release: 2004

My Analysis: A snappy thriller with a clever twist.

Hmm ... I don't want to get too bogged down in details here. There's this machinist, see - actually, it looks like he isn't a machinist so much as a blue collar guy with a job in manufacturing. Some sort of operator, I'd guess. I mean to say, it doesn't look like he works in a machine shop per se. Nor is he a mechanic. I can see why you'd think he was a machinist, but really ...

Right, that's exactly the kind of detail I'm trying to avoid. The guy's name is Trevor Reznick, and he isn't doing well at all. He's obscenely skinny. He's an insomniac. Apparently he used to go good-timing around with the fellas from work, but he doesn't go anymore. All of this started about a year ago ...

That's really all you need to know - something awful, clearly, happened to poor Trevor about a year ago and he hasn't had it all together since. Since he isn't aware of what, exactly, is causing his insomnia, etc we can assume he's blocking it out. From there, the film pretty much writes itself, with only a little help from our friend Mr. Freud.

Anyway, a pretty decent film. Not 'scary' really, but not bad either. If some one asks me "So, what worth-while films have you watched recently?", I might mention this one. Really.