The Machinist (2004)

Add this film to your list of summer movies to watch (it's so easy with netflix!)

"The Machinist" follows the life of a blue collar man named Trevor Reznik (Christian Bale) who hasn't slept in over a year and is beginning to notice the side effects of his insomnia and sleep deprivation, including extreme weight loss slight deterioration of his flesh and weakness among the physical effects, while the mental effects are much deeper and lead Trevor down a disturbing path of violence and confusion.  Lets just say that it's a combination of "Fight Club," "Memento," with a little bit of "Black Swan."

This doesn't really seem like a typical role for Christian Bale at first because Reznik is an almost cowardly, skinny man with seemingly no aspirations to achieve something greater in life.  As the plot progresses and Reznik begins to hallucinate and the effects of his sleep deprivation become apparent the seemingly introverted Reznik shows the classic Christian Bale anger full of shouting and wide eyes that we expect from his other movies.  Either the makeup department for "The Machinist" really spent a lot of time making Bale look like a starving, skinny, pale, lower-class-man, or Bale really put himself inside of his role and did some serious role research to look the disgusting and disturbing way that he does.  His condition is only augmented by the color palette of the entire film, which is all drab and dreary with very few accenting colors and a plethora of shades of white, grey, and black.  The only color that really stands out a lot is the few points in the film where blood is present.  But this whole setup makes for a very disturbing and almost depressing movie.  Don't watch this alone while you're mulling over the idea that nobody in the world cares for you....not saying that I did that or anything....Anyways, "The Machinist" gets a 4/5.