I’m going to talk about the Machinist again and I’m going to discuss the ending. So don’t open below if you don’t want to know.

The ending I saw coming. That is to say, as Dan so rightly points out, if you’ve seen Fight Club, it’s not hard to work out that the fat bald bloke, Ivan, is actually Trevor’s subconscious or similar. Unlike Fight Club, no-one else seems to ever interact with him and unlike Fight Club, the big reveal is not the dual personality. This is why the Machinist works - the big reveal is actually quite ordinary. He’s not part of a conspiracy, he’s not a serial killer or a secret agent, he’s not out for revenge or anything like that. No, we discover that he’s losing his mind because of an event that’s taken place and we get to find out what that event is and we realise that the whole of his existence is controlled by his subconscious and the guilt that he feels over this particular event. The guilt he feels has a profound effect on him both mentally and physically. This is why it’s different from Fight Club and Memento and why it stands on it’s own.

I think the Machinist is a film that is going to need at least one subsequent viewing in light of the revelation just to pick up on some of the imagery and the clues. Perhaps not the clues, because they were a bit blunt, but there’s a lot of imagery, mainly to do with the “left” (damaged left hands, taking the left fork, the bleach is always on the left of the sink etc.) This is what I meant when I said earlier that the film was full of texture. There is a lot of stuff to pick up on that gives a good idea as to his state of mind - see how hard it is to add more when you’re trying not to give anything away?

Great film. Would be nice if the rental dvd had some special features but we’ll have to wait until 1st August to get the one with a featurette and a director’s commentary.