Too Damn Thin

[talktooloose]

We watched The Machinist last night and it's taken me until this morning to figure out what was bugging me so much about it.

It's a great film with a great look, a bunch of weirdly supernatural mysteries that ultimately totally pay off with the final revelations of the film. Some of the scenes were as creepy as anything I've seen recently (though that might have also been my creeped-out mood of yesterday).

The damn problem is the bizarre decision by Christian Bale and/or the director that Bale should starve himself down to a skeleton for the role. Throughout the movie you are marvelling at and sickened by the suffering that the actor went through for this.



And, you know, it might have been worth it if it had been a Holocaust movie or Stephen King's Thinner, but here it added little to the character. In fact, the major physical stress on the character is that he hasn't slept in a year. Fatigue is the cross he's bearing. Extreme weight loss is actually a distraction from this. Sure, he needed to look like shit, but a few pounds, some bad hair and makeup would have been all the physical alteration needed. In fact, Bale is wonderful at creating that half-asleep, nightmare state that the character is experiencing. Instead, you sit there staring at his exposed bones which have nothing to do with anything.

Why am I never impressed with Christian Bale? He is talented. I think it's because he's a humourless actor. He and The Goddamn Batman! deserved each other.

Weird side note: This is a Spanish movie, entirely shot in Spain with an entirely Spanish crew and funded by Spain. Yet the director is American, it takes place in America and the cast is American. I wonder how it came to be a Spanish production?

Comments

[nyahnyahnyah.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, he really does look horrible :(

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I just added a photo to the entry. Should have done it before.

[nyahnyahnyah.livejournal.com]

And just think, the camera adds ten pounds. *faints*

[ginalin.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. *shudders* I'm kind of fascinated with Bale, but it's that kind of creepy fascination one has for spiders.
There's nothing warm about him as an actor. It's intriguing, but it doesn't draw one to him. Repellent, even at times. He is good at playing disturbed, dark creepy dudes, though.
Makes one wonder how much of it is acting, doesn't it?

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I distrust actors who do stunt acting like this. I am reminded of Laurence Olivier's words to Dustin Hoffman who had stayed up three nights to be sufficiently harrowed for their scene: "Why don't you try acting, Dustin. It's much easier."

(P.S. I love Dustin Hoffman, but Larry had a point.)

[ginalin.livejournal.com]

It makes me think of a story I read about some young actor who thought he needed to put a rock in his shoe to limp properly for a scene. Finally, after a day of this he had blister on his foot and was limping in earnest.
He confessed his stunt to a more experienced actor in the movie, who starting laughing his ass off. "Well, I've been wondering why you were limping on the wrong foot all day."
He'd put the rock in the wrong shoe. The next day, he had to fake limping on his uninjured foot, sans rock. LOL

For some reason, I want to say the young actor was Matt Damon, but I'm not sure that's right.

[lux-apollo.livejournal.com]

The worst thing is how his body has done a rebound and now he's kind of FAT.

Looks like he enjoyed the eating a little too much after he could stop starving himself. Gah. The things those fools will do to make us believe how *serious* and *respectable* they are as actors. Losing that much weight must be risky to one's health... he probably took 3 years off his life.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I thought he was cute in The Prestige but I haven't enjoyed a performance by him since he was 14 in Empire of the Sun. Coincidentally, that's really the only good Steven Spielberg movie.

[lux-apollo.livejournal.com]

Not surprised.

[corduroyarmy.livejournal.com]

Nothing happened in it!

It does not get my support.