Brad Anderson’s cult psychological thriller returns to the big screen for a special 20th anniversary 35mm presentation. Christian Bale gives one of his finest performances as Trevor Reznik, a machine shop operator whose chronic insomnia is taking a severe toll on his mind and body. His life literally a waking nightmare, Trevor maintains his sanity through his relationships with Marie (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón), an airport coffee shop waitress, and Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a sympathetic prostitute, but after he is implicated in an industrial accident involving a co-worker (Michael Ironside), his fragile grip on reality begins to unwind.

The skillful direction and an intelligent screenplay by Scott Kosar combines cinematic references (Hitchcock, Polanski, Lynch) with literary ones (Kafka, Dostoyevsky) to construct a mysterious labyrinth of signposts, echoes, alternate realities, and red herrings. The result is one of the most unusual – and satisfying - mystery thrillers of the past two decades. To convey his character’s deterioration Christian Bale famously lost 30kg of body weight for the role and his physical transformation is truly shocking. Imbued with a prevailing sense of dread the music recalls Bernard Herrmann at his most unnerving, and the anonymity of the industrial setting and desaturated cinematography underscore the protagonist’s perpetual state of exhaustion.

The London premiere of The Machinist was at The Prince Charles Cinema in August 2004, several months before its UK release. Lost Reels is proud to bring this disturbing, expertly crafted thriller back to the very same theatre where audiences first experienced it from a wonderful original 35mm print.