SVSG, my thoughts on El Maquinista / The Machinist:

One of those narratives with a twist; when it comes, though, it doesn't shock, but it seems it isn't meant to. Instead, this is more interested in exploring the notion that our social fears arise from inner, subconscious guilt, and if it isn't entirely shocking, it's still mighty clever.

Driven nicely by the dark, sombre cinematography, noirish score, and another one of those shocking examples of method acting, with Christian Bale shedding four-stone to look like a Holocaust victim, it's an impressive film.

I wouldn't place it anywhere near Lynch's Lost Highway, though. That is a lingering, evolving piece of work which develops upon further watches. My memory of The Machinist does not, for now, beg a rewatch; to me, it is, like The Usual Suspects, a "solvable" film-with-a-twist. It places its clues throughout, which become solved when the ending adds context. With Lost Highway, Lynch isn't interested in presenting to us a puzzle to solve, or giving us clues. It's more of an aesthetic exploration of identity crises - a theme it does indeed share with Anderson's film, though does so in a far more complex way.

Thanks,
Mick