On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 18:20:06 -0800, skuke wrote:
On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 17:46:42 -0800, RainLover wrote:
I was just curious. I suspect that the readers here aren't the
regular art house, movie-going crowd here, but I'm wondering if anyone
else saw "The Machinist"?
This post is more about artsy-fartsy crap, but since the movie *IS*
about a machinist, and since a person gets his arm ripped off in a
machine, I figure it's "on topic" enough.
It's been haunting me for over a week now.
THANKS!!
James, Seattle
HEY! I'm glad someone's seen it! You're right.... It's definitely a
movie that provokes discussion.
I saw it the other night.
I liked it as a type of movie that needed to be discussed with friends
afterwards over some coffee (to help get that insomnia started). We wanted
to try and understand what/why/how the lead machinist went through and if it
was even remotely possible. How much sleep deprivation could a person
handle? How are the prisoners in Git-mo handling the sleep
deprivation/torture?
I didn't like it as a "who done it" thriller movie. I thought the director
gave too much away and was fairly predictable.
I didn't take the movie too much as a 'who done it', but I know what
you mean. The funny (skillful?) thing the director did was to give
away much, but really NOT give away, except in hindsight.... maybe
that's the 'haunting' part.
Not predictable to the very
end, but he gave enough clues away so that I wasn't very surprised by
anything that happened. It was as if Hitchcock directed it after a
sleepless night and hungover.
My wife HATES 'scary' movies, and while I thought this movie was going
to go down that old path, I think it did and INCREDIBLE job of walking
along that cliff, but not going there....
There was ONE scene though... ironically (or iconically) with the
translucent shower door where you could see a shadow, and I instantly
thought of Hitchcock. I think it was the director tipping his hat to
the master.
The movie did leave me with an uneasy, gritty feeling afterwards and I'm
glad I went to see it with a machinist friend rather than with my wife.
Thinking more about the movie now, I'm getting that "haunting" feeling again
that you're experiencing.
I am a tad perturbed about the title. It could have been called The
Sanitation Worker, The Editor, The Accountant, The Plumber... the fact that
he was a machinist was not really important.
Not really important, but there's a dirty, gritty, greasy and very
industrial feel to the label "machinist" that 'plumber' and 'garbage
man don't accomplish.
The character could have been
anybody and certain situations (like arm ripping in a machine) could have
easily been changed to suit the profession. The theme had nothing to do
with his occupation.
Oh, I don't know.... I can't think of any other workplace condition
that can be quite as menacing FEELING as a huge-ass machine shop...
The machines themselves are scary looking, especially the older ones.
So while I saw the movie because it was about a
machinist rather than a plumber, I felt a little misled by the title.
He was a machinist, what's to be misled about? :-)
Overall, I give it a thumbs up and would recommend it to most people. I
wouldn't take queasy people.
I think even the most queasy person would enjoy (if that's what you
can call it) this movie.
An observation and comment:
Did you stay for the credits? Did you notice that the entire movie
was filmed in SPAIN, with a nearly all Spanish crew? I wonder why
they made that choice...
I read something yesterday... the color in the movie was a bit dark
and eerie. To get that color, all the actors actually wore white
makeup for the filming, then, in the film processing, they
color-corrected to normal skin tones.
James, Seattle (saw it at The Grand Cinema in Tacoma)
|