The Machinist

The Machinist (2004)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/]

The Gist:
Yes, that emaciated holocaust survivor looking so and so is Christian Bale and yes that's kind of fucking crazy. Bale has been hailed for his performance in this film and with good reason. I have never seen an actor sacrifice so much for the sake of a role. It kind of puts roles like De Niro in Raging Bull and Clooney in Syriana and Leto in Chapter 27 to shame, mainly because in this film Bale seriously looks close to death. In terms of the movie itself, it is disturbing in a way that I find very reminiscent to David Lynch films, particularly Eraser Head. Both films have the same quality of distilling a setting, making it feel less like a real place and more like a nightmare dreamscape. However, whereas Lynch films would spiral into chaos, this film veers into clarity as the ending approaches and the film is both better and worse for it. The quality of the nightmare dissipates, the landscape of Los Angeles becomes more recognizable, a reason for the insanity is given to wrap everything up neatly making an intriguing game of piecing things together. However, the ending doesn't share the disturbing heft of the rest of the film.