The Machinist, cont'd.

Mr. Weaver notified me that the review should not only exceed 300 words, but it should be 500-700. So now we see my observational skills are poor. So here’s more about The Machinist!

The film may put some in mind of Momento, a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss. The film shares with The Machinist a fractured, jarring storyline that keeps the audience in suspense. Films such as these, and others such as Stay and 11:14 all may be described as suspense/thriller and some have even depicted them as noir.

I believe that the appeal of these films ultimately derives from our own sense of self. In all of these features, the characters focus on what they have experienced and their relationships with the other characters. In The Machinist, Reznik’s sleep-deprived and guilt-haunted mind create a pretext upon which the entire movie is based. When the audience views themselves through his perspective, the events become all the more intense and compelling. It is this empathy, along with the mystery of the film, that help to pull the viewer in and push the story forward. The ominous notes Reznik finds in his apartment, the strange new co-worker, his insomnia: all contribute both to the empathy factor and the mystery.

Unfortunately, I really can’t go into too much more detail without spoiling the film, so suffice it to say that the themes, the mystery/fun of figuring out the mystery, and the empathy one has with the characters make this feature worth seeing.