Insomnia (2002)
To Sleep
A silver seaplane flies low over a spectacular glacier full of serrated icy peaks. On board are two police detectives from Los Angeles. Ostensibly Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) have been sent north to help investigate a murder in a small Alaskan community. But their commanding officer also wanted to get them away from L.A. and an Internal Affairs investigation. As the plane flies on, Dormer is all business, studying the case, while Eckhart enjoys the scenery. The plane lands near the docks of the (fictional) town of Nightmute, which, they soon learn, is “the halibut-fishing capital of the world.” Nightmute is in the Far North and, because it is summertime, there is perpetual daylight.
Dormer and Eckhart are met by Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), a young, smart, but inexperienced member of the Nightmute police force. Ellie studied Dormer’s cases at the police academy and she is anxious to learn from him. But the arrival of the L.A. detectives is resented by some of her colleagues.
The case involves a seventeen-year-old girl, found naked and dead. She was not been raped. But, strangely, her hands were scrubbed, and her finger- and toe-nails were clipped.
Dormer sets a trap for the killer, and with Eckhart and the local police, stakes out a cabin near the sea. The killer is lured into the trap. But, he manages to escape through a tunnel to the rocky, fog-shrouded beach.
Dormer continues the main investigation—but he becomes more and more fatigued, as he cannot sleep in this land of the midnight sun. Meanwhile, Ellie is assigned to investigate the botched trap.
Insomnia is a thriller from English director Christopher Nolan, who burst on the cinematic scene in 2001 with Memento (2000) and Following (1998). Unlike those two fiendishly clever, time-disordered thrillers, the narrative of Insomnia is linear, but the movie is filmed with a similar intensity.
It is based on a 1997 Norwegian movie—also titled Insomnia—directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg. First-time scriptwriter Hillary Seitz closely follows the action of the Norwegian thriller, but the feel of the two movies is very different. And this is largely because of the difference in leading actors.
In Skjoldbjærg’s movie, the visiting detective is Swedan’s Stellan Skarsgård, who appears in Good Will Hunting (1977), Ronin (1998), and The Glass House (2001). Skarsgård has a cooler, less trustworthy, presence than Pacino. Because of this, Skjoldbjærg’s Insomnia becomes an examination of a clearly flawed man. In contrast, Pacino is older, more explosive, more committed and full of regret. His Dormer is a brilliant detective, weighed down by fatigue, and torn by the knowledge that he has compromised his ideals. As a result, Nolan's Insomnia edges nearer to tragedy.
Nolan gets fine performances from the supporting cast. Hilary Swank reveals Ellie’s progression from eager admiration to the skillful use of Dormer’s lessons. Martin Donovan captures Eckhart’s mixture of loyalty to Dormer and self-preservation, as he threatens to make a deal with Internal Affairs back in L.A. Maura Tierney is sympathetic as Rachel Clement, the manager of the lodge where Dormer and Eckhart stay. And Robin Williams is creepily convincing, playing against type, as Walter Finch, the mild-mannered but self-promoting crime fiction writer, who was the confidant of the murdered girl.
Nolan and director of photography Wally Pfister capture the feel of constant daylight. The moody, unnerving music is by David Julyan. The crisp, precise editing is by Dody Dorn. And Nolan brilliantly stage manages the movie’s set pieces, which include a nail-biting chase across water on an endless succession of huge, floating logs.
—John Bloomfield (3 June, 2002)
A silver seaplane flies low over a spectacular glacier full of serrated icy peaks. On board are two police detectives from Los Angeles. Ostensibly Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) have been sent north to help investigate a murder in a small Alaskan community. But their commanding officer also wanted to get them away from L.A. and an Internal Affairs investigation. As the plane flies on, Dormer is all business, studying the case, while Eckhart enjoys the scenery. The plane lands near the docks of the (fictional) town of Nightmute, which, they soon learn, is “the halibut-fishing capital of the world.” Nightmute is in the Far North and, because it is summertime, there is perpetual daylight.
Dormer and Eckhart are met by Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank), a young, smart, but inexperienced member of the Nightmute police force. Ellie studied Dormer’s cases at the police academy and she is anxious to learn from him. But the arrival of the L.A. detectives is resented by some of her colleagues.
The case involves a seventeen-year-old girl, found naked and dead. She was not been raped. But, strangely, her hands were scrubbed, and her finger- and toe-nails were clipped.
Dormer sets a trap for the killer, and with Eckhart and the local police, stakes out a cabin near the sea. The killer is lured into the trap. But, he manages to escape through a tunnel to the rocky, fog-shrouded beach.
Dormer continues the main investigation—but he becomes more and more fatigued, as he cannot sleep in this land of the midnight sun. Meanwhile, Ellie is assigned to investigate the botched trap.
Insomnia is a thriller from English director Christopher Nolan, who burst on the cinematic scene in 2001 with Memento (2000) and Following (1998). Unlike those two fiendishly clever, time-disordered thrillers, the narrative of Insomnia is linear, but the movie is filmed with a similar intensity.
It is based on a 1997 Norwegian movie—also titled Insomnia—directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg. First-time scriptwriter Hillary Seitz closely follows the action of the Norwegian thriller, but the feel of the two movies is very different. And this is largely because of the difference in leading actors.
In Skjoldbjærg’s movie, the visiting detective is Swedan’s Stellan Skarsgård, who appears in Good Will Hunting (1977), Ronin (1998), and The Glass House (2001). Skarsgård has a cooler, less trustworthy, presence than Pacino. Because of this, Skjoldbjærg’s Insomnia becomes an examination of a clearly flawed man. In contrast, Pacino is older, more explosive, more committed and full of regret. His Dormer is a brilliant detective, weighed down by fatigue, and torn by the knowledge that he has compromised his ideals. As a result, Nolan's Insomnia edges nearer to tragedy.
Nolan gets fine performances from the supporting cast. Hilary Swank reveals Ellie’s progression from eager admiration to the skillful use of Dormer’s lessons. Martin Donovan captures Eckhart’s mixture of loyalty to Dormer and self-preservation, as he threatens to make a deal with Internal Affairs back in L.A. Maura Tierney is sympathetic as Rachel Clement, the manager of the lodge where Dormer and Eckhart stay. And Robin Williams is creepily convincing, playing against type, as Walter Finch, the mild-mannered but self-promoting crime fiction writer, who was the confidant of the murdered girl.
Nolan and director of photography Wally Pfister capture the feel of constant daylight. The moody, unnerving music is by David Julyan. The crisp, precise editing is by Dody Dorn. And Nolan brilliantly stage manages the movie’s set pieces, which include a nail-biting chase across water on an endless succession of huge, floating logs.
—John Bloomfield (3 June, 2002)
posted by John Bloomfield at 8:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home