I watched The Machinist again last night. It's probably been more than a year since I last saw it. Curiously enough, I am still finding little things I didn't notice on previous viewings! Or at least some ideas are coming together in ways they had not before, likely because I was looking too closely.

( Just a few things, possibly but hopefully not repeating myself... much. )

I have to say, too, that this film absolutely holds up. I still love watching it, and I still get tense as hell at all the right parts (especially Miller's accident!). And no matter how many times I see him, I am still unsettled just watching Trevor.

Also, not from the film but the extras, having seen Session 9 I wonder if the chair in the hallway used for Scott Kosar's interview was not an intentional nod to that film. Granted, Session 9 is Anderson's film not Kosar's, but the imagery is eerily similar.

So, what does everyone think about the left and right forks in the road?

I seriously love the in-depth detail they went to with this movie.
Every single thing in the movie was for some reason.
Or meant for something else.

Just wanted to see what everyone else thought of that.

I have always been intrigued at the scene where Trevor's at the police station the first time. He's sitting under a bulletin board full of 'wanted' posters. The camera pans over it fairly slowly so I am given the impression we are meant to see them in some detail. And yet, as hard as I look and as often as I watch that scene, I don't see Trevor's picture on the board, not even a composite. But it is an interesting irony that he chooses to sit right there, his face lined up with all the pictures of wanted criminals. Poor Trev.

What is it with Stevie and eggs? The first time we see her, she tells Trevor that he still has time and she can fix him some eggs. The last time we see her, she has actually fixed him some scrambled eggs.

Also, when Trevor runs out of the airport near the end of the movie and goes past that poster that says, "Escape", with the palm tree and sandy beach, Stevie has a similiar picture hanging over her bed with a palm tree and tropical beach, only hers depicts a sunset.

Yes, it's me again. I noticed the brand of bleach Trevor uses is 'Scorch'. Usually the word scorch denotes heat or burning, and I thought it was a strange name for a household cleaner. Then I ran it through an online thesaurus, and I got several alternate and interesting shades of meaning--all of which point to Trevor's feelings about himself, conscious and subconscious. Maybe what he thinks he deserves.

( Read more... )

This picture confuses me. When was emaciated Trevor ever in the red car? Must be a publicity photo?

When Trevor is at the amusement park with Maria and she gets a phone call from her ex, Trevor gets a strange frown on his face. The same thing happens when he's in bed with Stevie and she gets a call from her ex. I wonder what the significance of the exes are in Trev's mind.

Hello all. I have a couple of questions. Is Maria's name Maria, or is it Marie? I've seen it both ways. It may seem as if I'm splitting hairs, but those are two distinctly different names. Ok, the next thing is the fact that two times in the movie, Ivan makes homo-erotic comments to Trevor. First, when he says he has to take a leak, he asks Trevor if he wants to watch. Then, when they are struggling in Trevor's bathroom, Ivan says that if people were to see them, they might get the wrong idea. If it was just one or the other, I would not give it a second thought. But I think it's telling that Ivan says this kind of thing twice. Any thoughts?

I found some neat stuff on IMDB, thought I would share.

( A little guilt goes a long way )

Was thinking about the women in The Machinist last night, funnily enough on a roadtrip, and had a bit of a delayed obvious revelation.

Picking out the women with the most lines and most action, you've got:

Maria - the mother

Stevie - the whore but also the maiden waiting to be rescued

and Mrs Shrike - the crone

Classic literary archetypes and perfectly represented here in their threefold state. The mother, the maiden and the crone ... liek woah. Just made me remember that thing about the movie being a very literary movie. Argh, yes.

Has anyone else noticed a similarity between those extreme close up shots of Tevor's mouth screaming (after he hits Nicholas with his car) and that huge open mouth that is actually the entrance to the Route 666 ride? Also, some of my favorite funny lines:

a) Trevor's 'mother' remark to Jones in the locker room. The pleased look on Trevor's face is priceless.

b) Trevor to Ivan: "They don't even have you on the payroll."
Ivan to Trevor: "That's why I can't get a raise."

And I think this one is the funniest:

c) Trevor: "Please Stevie. I think I'm falling apart!"
Stevie: "Can you come back in an hour?"

I don't know why, but that just makes me giggle.

In my effort to keep the momentum of the comm up, I'm starting to look obsessive aren't I? But there's plenty to be said still.

( just a few things )

Finally, as much as I should be setting an example over what is and is not relevant on this comm, I'm including a drawing of Trent I did a while back because creedysgirl says I must! I'm working on Trevor but he's avoiding me.

( down in it )

Let's see, I'm not really sure I know where to go with this but it's worth a shot.

One thing that attracted me a great deal to this movie was the imagery of machinery, and the fact that Trevor is a machinist. (I mean, it's the title.) Something I'd like to put forward and explore is the importance of this theme. Brad Anderson mentions something in the commentary about how Trevor is this really tiny, frail guy that is tired all the time because he doesn't sleep which in term exacerbates the perils and the danger of his job, he's working with such heavy and intense material. I think there's a lot more that can be said than just that little snippet of irony. I think it's something that maybe could have been explored more throughout the film, (but doesn't take anything away from the film that it's not.)

Trevor is this fragile creature, this skeletal being, pure flesh and bone- but at the same time he's kind of created this machine out of himself a drone for the past year. The machines are an obvious force in the movie, they're what causes Miller's arm, and Trevor to almost lose his. I see the machine as kind of a facade, a physical disguise he masks himself with. While Trevor thinks there is some kind of conspiracy against him, and other forces acting on him, it's really only himself, the machine he's built himself into. I'd like to think that Trevor finds solace in his work. That this is a way he can escape, by fitting cogs and building parts. He's trying to subconciously build this wall around himself, which ultimately turns against him and comes crashing down.

( I'm stuck in this dream )


So I don't know if I've actually said anything worth saying, but it's a little dose of my take on things, that could definetly be delved deeper into.

So I'm capping The Machinist, and in the meantime still looking around for clues. And I notice a strange photo on the table above the drawer wherein he finds the flashlight. An old photo and I'm wondering who the? And I notice another frame, in the drawer and advance the shot... slowly until... HA! OMG THESE GUYS ARE SO SNEAKY!! *beams*

( look familiar??!? )

heya guys. Newbie. I watched The Machinist a while back and just bought the DVD and rewatched it for the first time. and watched it with the director's commentary. I found it kind of helpful in catching small things that I might have missed. and I had no idea the movie was filmed entirely outside of the United States. they did a good job.

( I'm a bit impressed )

anyway, I screencapped the movie and made a couple icons if anybody is interested. Only five icons, but I plan on doing some more. I just did them out of boredom about an hour ago. They're over on my journal, HERE.

I watched The Machinist again last night (during a partcularly nasty torrential downpour), and as always came away with a few new things.

( observations, questions, pondering )

I have a ton more but I'll leave it at that for now. :)

I've mentioned much of this before, here and there, but I thought it deserved its own official post: ( make it a double. )

There's probably more. I haven't seen it in over a week! My memory's lifespan is only a few days. V_V

Did Trevor really go a year without sleep? In rare cases, people have been known to be awake for months at a time. If he was awake the whole time, then his strange reality was a series of delusions. If he was not awake the whole time, then could it be that some of his delusions were just nightmares?

When Trevor is on the ride with Nicholas, I noticed something interesting. When they pass the two corpses(the one hanging, and the other one leaning out of the window of the sheriff's office), they seem to be wearing work uniforms, like the one Trevor wears at his job. Did anyone else notice this?

Also, there is the woman who is weeping over what looks to me like a child-sized coffin.

Finally, towards the end of the ride, there are rapidly flashing lights, and then Nicholas has his seizure. These kinds of seizures are called "photosensitive seizures", and there is more info. at this link: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pokemon.html
I just wonder how the flashing lights and the seizure relate to Trevor's dillema.

So, after having watched the movie the second time, I have so many things I want to discuss. There were so many subtelties in the movie, I found myself obsessively taking notes. I suppose I'll take one point at at time. Did anyone notice the "paths" theme? When Trevor and Nicholas were on the ride, at one point the track forks, and Trevor tells the boy to go towards the sign that says(can't remember exactly) "salvation" rather than the one that says "damnation". Then, when Trevor slips down the drainpipe and walks the sewers, there seems to be a maze of different directions he could take. And, at the end, when Trevor is in the car with Ivan, he sees the freeway signs that say, "airport", and "downtown", and, Ivan, who for the first time in the movie seems decent, winks at Trevor, as if to say, "Do the right thing, take the right path." Trevor chooses to go to the police station rather than leave town and flee. I hope that at all made sense. The movie is still blowing me away.