THE MACHINIST Opens Saturday * 102 minutes * Cine Quinto in Tokyo

Forget the South Beach diet, and don't bother with Dr. Atkins. If you really want to lose weight, go talk to Christian Bale.

The 31-year-old actor, who wasn't exactly out of shape to begin with, shed a whopping 30 kilos for his starring role in the psychological thriller ``The Machinist.'' But the compliments Bale's getting have nothing to do with his overly sleek physique. It's his dedication to his craft that people like director Brad Anderson admire.

Eyes hollow and cheeks sunken, Bale is little more than skin and bones on screen. He's the picture of ill health, which is just what Anderson wanted.

``The character was described in the screenplay as a `walking skeleton,''' Anderson said at a recent Tokyo news conference. ``But I didn't expect him to lose that much weight. I think he didn't expect it, either. But he's an actor who needs to push himself to the limit to get the best performance, and he did it in this film.''

Bale plays Trevor, a factory worker who hasn't slept in a year. As if being an insomniac wasn't bad enough, he's also lost his appetite, which is why he's wasting away. His emaciated appearance is meant to get viewers thinking.

``I think it's important the character looks that way,'' Anderson says. ``The first moment you see Christian in the movie, he looks so horrifying. That's the question. Why is this guy like this? What's wrong with him? What happened to him? So it sets the audience off on this quest.''

The mystery surrounding Trevor only deepens when his already miserable existence takes a turn for the worse, thanks to a series of bizarre events.

As a troubling pattern emerges, Trevor realizes someone's out to get him. He starts finding mysterious notes, one of which bears the stick figures of a game of hangman. Then, a workmate loses an arm in a gruesome accident at the factory.

With his life on the line, Trevor's not going to trust just anyone. His only confidantes are a prostitute named Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Marie (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), a single mom who works as a waitress at the coffeeshop he frequents.

Bale brings more than a startling physical presence to ``The Machinist.'' His portrayal of Trevor reveals he's gotten into the terrified man's mind, too. It's a performance that demonstrates a clear understanding of the confusion caused by chronic sleeplessness and amplified by malnourishment. Bale's the glue that holds this dark, intense movie together.

``The Machinist'' also benefits from Anderson's stylish visual sense. Shot in moody tones, the film's imagery leaves no doubts about Trevor's fragile mental state.

Anderson, who first attracted notice with the 1998 romantic comedy ``Next Stop, Wonderland,'' is no stranger to chiller-thriller films. He also directed 2001's ``Session 9,'' a horror flick with a cult following. But he isn't one to stick to a particular genre.

``I just like to have a variety of films,'' Anderson says. ``I get bored easily with one kind of story, one kind of theme. So I want to be able to go back and forth. I think any director enjoys the ability to use different tools to tell different kinds of stories.''

Although ``The Machinist'' is set in Los Angeles, Anderson filmed it in Barcelona. Unable to find financing in the United States, he jumped at the cash offered by a Spanish production company. He balked, however, at the producer's choice of location.

``My first reaction was, `What's the point in shooting there?''' the director recalls.

He soon realized the creative freedom he was given more than made up for such minor hassles as keeping Spanish-language signs out of the picture. To avoid giving away the Iberian location, the film was shot in ``generic'' parts of Barcelona.

``(The movie) feels like it hasn't any real location. It doesn't feel like America, it doesn't feel like Europe. It has a sort of very surreal quality to it,'' Anderson says. ``I don't think we could achieve that if we shot in downtown Los Angeles.''

It's also doubtful that he could have achieved what he did with an actor who lacked Bale's appetite for a challenge. The man clearly deserves a second helping of dessert.(IHT/Asahi: February 11,2005)