Comments on: Gothic Machinist

By: ahe

ahe — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 22:33:10 +0000

That actually is nice to know. I’ve noticed (through the glory of Netflix friends) that more often than not, we agree, which is a little weird considering that I am pretty unpredictable when it comes to film opinions.

By: jason

jason — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:52:24 +0000

Haha. I really liked Session 9 — it’s good to know that sometimes we do disagree on movies.

I keep thinking of Lost Highway when Peter has the big bump on his head — I always think of that thing representing all the fuckedupness going on in his life. I’m going to try to think of more…

By: ahe

ahe — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:45:33 +0000

Whoa, I hated Session 9. The Machinist, I could at least apreciate for Christian Bale, but Session 9 was not good. Better, thogh, in an atmospheric way–I thought the setting was v. creepy. I just would have set a much better horror flick there.

Fight Club comes to mind. One could even argue Memento.

By: jason

jason — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:39:33 +0000

Did you see the director’s previous movie, Session 9 (I think?)? I did enjoy that one more.

Also, can you think of other movies with “physical manifestations of psychological phenomenon”? I feel like it’s an often-used technique, but am at a loss to come up with more examples…

By: ahe

ahe — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 19:33:58 +0000

Hmm, I recall enjoying, as you term it, the “physical manifestation of psychological phenomenon” shown in the film, but nevertheless, I thought The Machinist bordered on terrible. Aside from Christian Bale’s performance (shitty American accent be damned), the film was annoyingly derivative, not suspenseful or tense and almost painfully predictable. It was like watching a stunt or magic trick with no payoff.