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So, now I have clear evidence that Stewart and I have no matching taste in movies. Which is kind of nice, because I have been looking for someone to guide me through the releases, now that everything premieres later here (Million Dollar Baby in April? Goodness me). So far the people whose tastes I trust are Flyboy and Jack the Bodiless, who both post far too rarely here. Where's Videodrome when you need him? Or even Rizla, with his weird choices. Am I the only one to think that this forum has seen its better days? I no longer receive early word on that forgotten gem, the underhyped experience which, gasp, is much better than the commercially inflated clunker. Anyway, here's why Stewart and Kali are both very wrong (spoiler space embrace):
The twist, such as it is, is not what the movie is about. The movie is about itself. And it is also about links to other movies.
What readily came to mind after watching it for the first time was how alike it was to Nolan's last two movies. In Memento, there is the unreliable narrator desperately trying to find an answer to a mystery: the death of his wife. In the Machinist the mystery is everywhere. Both have fragmented states of mind that, in the first, perpetuates, and, in the second, result in closure. The interesting linkage begins: In Nolan's last film, the excellent morality play Insomnia, Pacino's once clean cop has commited a morally grey act that is about to catch up with him. Through chance or by design, he kills his partner and decides to cover it up - but the hunted, 'real' murderer knows about it and the murderer uses this to bring Pacino closer to where he is. Pacino's conscience won't allow him to sleep, and it is only when the matter is resolved that he attains his rightful sleep. In the Machinist much the same thing has happened, but Reznik no longer remembers what he has done. And his fractured mental state of mind, augmented by the sleep deprivation, creates a reality where what he has done is perpetuated with varying and distressing symbols. Linkage no. 3: Nolan and Bale have done a big movie that will premiere in a couple of months.
I don't have much time, but I want to include eXistenZ, Spider and Stewart's choice, Fight Club, as three equally important movies that the writer and director of the Machinist would know about (And the Downward Spiral, perhaps, as a thematic distant relative).
I'm not denying that this movie is very samey to the above movies plotwise - what Stewart or kali have not touched upon is the concentric use of words, sound, symbols and imagery. I was truly impressed with the scene at the playground when Nicholas asks how Trent met his mother. A couple of radio cars (sic?) crash exactly as he utters the question. There is a storm brewing in the distant horizon as Trent gets rid of the body in the beginning, and there is a storm brewing in the sky when Trent meets Ivan for the first time. The stick figure is in many places, one of the most subtle occurences is at the metro station as Trent crawls down to the sewer. The arrows are everywhere, even nearby his home as an ad. The fish symbol is employed throughout the movie, as is the tower.
Time prohibits that I continue, but remember that this movie is dense.
And terrific. |
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