These personal films that directors get to make are both a struggle (to watch) and epiphanous (in the modern, non-religious sense) in the payoff.
The thing looked marvellous for the "magic hour" lensing of outback Australia. Sets, costumes, props were all legit for the era (mid-20th Century).
All the cast were top notch but one can't avoid the fact that almost everyone looked healthier than you suspect people actually did in the time and place of the film's setting. What can you do - starve the cast for months before the film's shoot? I suspect Christian Bale had the resources to get gaunt for The Machinist that were not available here. I digress.
The real magic happens when things get cray cray crazy on screen. Actually, these moments depict humans at their most vulnerable and strange. Our weird faith systems - Christian & Aboriginal (see Nolan's gargantuan Oppenheimer for faith in science) clash with serious, comical, frightening, & heartwarming results.
I'd like to watch it again, some day.
The thing looked marvellous for the "magic hour" lensing of outback Australia. Sets, costumes, props were all legit for the era (mid-20th Century).
All the cast were top notch but one can't avoid the fact that almost everyone looked healthier than you suspect people actually did in the time and place of the film's setting. What can you do - starve the cast for months before the film's shoot? I suspect Christian Bale had the resources to get gaunt for The Machinist that were not available here. I digress.
The real magic happens when things get cray cray crazy on screen. Actually, these moments depict humans at their most vulnerable and strange. Our weird faith systems - Christian & Aboriginal (see Nolan's gargantuan Oppenheimer for faith in science) clash with serious, comical, frightening, & heartwarming results.
I'd like to watch it again, some day.