Insomnia

2002 "A tough cop. A brilliant killer. An unspeakable crime."
7.2| 1h58m| R| en
Details

Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.

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Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
twbond-00867 Christopher Nolan's previous movies, INSOMNIA, brings a very interesting and complex story that brings in terrifying conspiracies and though-provoking enjoyment. From murders to the protagonists' struggle with sleep, it really does bring some eye-catching moments and very much brings good "hold onto your seats" thrill-rides that makes the audience want to understand more about what could and had been happening.It's not the best Nolan film, but Robin Williams and Al Pacino pull off a very warm-welcoming investigation to there own by bringing fantastic enjoyment to a never-ending chapter of pure excitement to its own synopsis. It's a watchable movie, but it does not go beyond other Nolan projects.
zoki_19 What a fantastic mystery movie, well done psychological thriller, one of my favorite performances by Pacino, and Williams is outstanding as ever. But now after all this years I realize that this is Nolan's movie, no question why we get maximum of this. Swank is worth of mentioning too, she is excellent. 10 of 10 for the acting. Massively underrated movie.
TheLittleSongbird As said in my reviews for his masterpiece 'Memento' and the fascinating 'The Prestige', Christopher Nolan has always struck me as a very talented film-maker, and most of his films are ones that have impressed me a lot. Even weaker efforts, where his ambition can get in the way, have a good deal to admire. His films are all impeccably crafted technically, and often entertaining and thought-provoking, also knowing how to get good performances out of talented casts.'Insomnia' is not one of Nolan's best films, but not his worst. For me it's somewhere in the middle if ranking his films, 'Memento' being his best and, while with a lot of impressive elements, 'Interstellar' being the one that impressed least. It shows fidelity to the Norwegian original, but doesn't go so far that it's a pale retread, in a way that is summed up very well by Roger Ebert.Nolan directs with impeccable style and sense of atmosphere, as well as an ability to tell a potentially convoluted story with clarity without resorting to excess and over-ambition. Much of 'Insomnia' is exceptionally well made, while beautiful Alaska has rarely been more oppressive as well while the cinematography has grit and class. David Julyan's music score is not quite as complex as that for 'Memento', but has a very effective eeriness.The script is tight and thoughtful, and the story, filled with neat twists and turns, is hugely compelling and atmospheric, never being too simple but complex enough to still be understandable and be respectful to the viewer. The cat and mouse stuff could have been predictable and convoluted but executed in masterly hair-raising but also quiet tension.Performances are all strong across the board. While underused somewhat, Martin Donovan and especially Hilary Swank are great here. It is however Al Pacino and Robin Williams who are even better. Pacino gives perhaps his best performance since 'Heat' and he has to me definitely not been on this amount of blistering form as he is in 'Insomnia'. Williams is cast against type, and he plays a genuinely terrifying character with menace but also dignity and restraint.Flaws are only a couple, with the film ending too conveniently and some of the editing being a touch too jumpy.All in all, a gripping film and hardly a sleeper. 8/10 Bethany Cox
NateWatchesCoolMovies Christopher Nolan has a monumental filmography full of lofty cerebral ideas, superheroes mythic in nature, and incredibly complex morality plays. The one time he hit the road in a straight line is Insomnia, a fairly standard cat and mouse thriller given the obvious boost of having Chris at the helm, as well as two actors who get dangerously out of control, in the best possible way. Al Pacino plays Will Dormer, an L.A. cop who treks out to small town Alaska to solve the mystery of a murdered local girl. The twist: they're in the region where it's daylight for a month straight, and if that's something you're not accustomed to, it'll throw you way off. It's fascinating to watch Pacino roll in sharp as a razor and completely in control, then observe his lack of sleep eat away at the frills of his perception and start to play tricks on his weary mind. The film has one of those narratives that gives us a heads up as to who the killer is nearly right off the bat, in this case personified by Stephen King esque novelist Walter Finch, played by a vastly creepy Robin Williams. He and Pacino do an eerie dance through the foggy local geography and small, gaunt townscape, Pacino looking for clues and proof while trying to hold onto his sanity, and Williams unnervingly playing a macabre mind game, perhaps only for his own amusement. There are shades of Vincent Hanna in Pacino's work here, the extremely stressed out LA detective from Michael Mann's Heat. One gets a sense of the same world weariness and feral ferocity of that character, especially in a heartbreaking monologue to the local innkeeper, played by underrated Maura Tierney, who is brilliant in the scene that requires her mostly to listen, a much harder task than delivering any page of dialogue. As for Williams, he's never really done anything this specific before. I mean, he's played freaks and villains all across the board, but none quite like Walter Finch. He's detached in a way that still clings to a humanity he may have lost through so many years writing stories that only happened in his head. He's both dangerous and rational, and when those two are fuelled by emotional trauma... watch out, because there's damage to be done. There's further work from Hilary Swank as Will's partner, Nicky Katt, Emily Perkins, Martin Donovan and edgy Vancouverite Katherine Isabelle, who just excels in anything, here playing the murder victim's troubled best friend. Now, this film is based on a chilly Swedish thriller of the same title, starring Stellen Skarsgard in Pacino's role, and Williams nowhere to be found, naturally. I connected with Nolan's version far more, the original seeming rather bland and lacking personality, but it's got a huge following and a Criterion release, so what the hell do I know, go see for yourself. I do know that nothing stands up the hairs on my neck quite like the portentous back and forth between Pacino and Williams here, the icy inaccessibility of the central mystery and the feeling that there's always something bubbling just below the surface of a seemingly civilized interaction. Barring Memento, which even rose to flights of fancy, this is the most down to earth Nolan has ever been in his exploration of the psychological landscape. Dreams, outer space, damaged memory and morality are for another day here. It strips away any of that, leaves it's characters stranded in a misty, threatening environment that mirrors their own starkly layered perception, and sits back to observe. Rats in a maze of the human mind, if you will. It's an important film in Nolan's career for this very reason; a departure from ambitions grandiose in nature, a vacation from fantasy, and a forceful glimpse at two men with minds holding on by just a thread, like a spider's web, beaded with dew in perpetual sunlight that refuses to set and give them solace. A masterwork of tension, with few instances of release.