Just as films change considerably as time goes by, so inevitably does film music.  Music that works in films in one generation rarely works in films during the next; and it is because of this that music by most of the finest film composers of the Golden Age would never work in films made today.  I think there are probably two exceptions, those being Elmer Bernstein and Alex North - there is a timeless quality to their music which means it sounds fresh today, fifty years after being composed, and would still work well in the right kind of film.  One film composer I would never have thought would fit in that group would be Bernard Herrmann; the adaptation of his music (by Bernstein, ironically) in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear remake is one of the most ludicrously-scored films I can think of, with the music being hideously out of place throughout.  However, though he is best-remembered for his crash-bang scores, for the most part Herrmann was a contemplative, subtle composer and of course that side of him hasn't particularly dated at all.

You may wonder why I am whittling on inanely about this when I'm meant to be reviewing The Machinist by Roque Baños, but the reason is that if you stuck this CD in your stereo without checking what it was, you would never guess it was anything other than a Herrmann score from the 50s or 60s.  Baños has made his name working on a whole variety of movies in his native Spain, only occasionally venturing elsewhere (such as in the well-regarded Sexy Beast), and this well-made film about a man sinking into oblivion presented him with some large challenges, ones he rose to commendably well; it was presumably the director's idea to channel Herrmann in the score, but whosever it was, it was a good one.

The music is somewhat low-key, with swirling strings echoing Psycho or Vertigo; the theremin being used subtly but effectively, sounding less ridiculous than you might imagine possible in a 2005 film score (though it was Miklós Rózsa and not Herrmann who used the instrument for films like this one); and there's even some more vigorous chase music from time to time.  This is psychologically-affecting music, for a most psychological film, weaving a spell upon the listener (and viewer), using a never-changing, constant atmosphere to help it on its way.  It is dark, haunting film score, one which enters the mind in a brilliant way.  For sure, it is just as much of a pastiche as, say, The Incredibles was of John Barry, so it is with a little reluctance that too much praise can be afforded the composer, but Baños does it all with style and intelligence; and the resulting score is one which is impressive indeed.