Insomnia (Widescreen Edition)
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DVD details
Actor: Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan (II), Oliver 'Ole' Zemen, Robin WilliamsBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-15
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- DVD, Widescreen
DVD Reviews of Insomnia (Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: You forgot the wild card, Will
Summary: 4 Stars
Insomnia was Christopher Nolan's next film after Memento. He is moving up the ladder to the next level, with big name actors--Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hillary Swank. Not quite up to block buster status with The Dark Knight or Inception, but he is a rising star. Insomnia was a remake of the 1997 Insomnia by Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg.
Instead of Norway, the remake is set in Alaska, so far North that the sun doesn't set for months. This wrecks havoc on the sleep cycles of Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino), an LA cop who arrives to help with the investigation of the murder of a young woman. Besides the Midnight Sun, there is something else troubling the detective's sleep. Like MacBeth, he thinks that "sleep should knit the raveled sleeve of care" but sleep is no more. MacBeth, and Dormer, have murdered sleep. Dormer is under investigation by Internal Affairs for possibly fabricating evidence. As he tries to cover his tracks, he gets in deeper trouble.
Rookie Detective Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank) looks up to Dormer, who she has studied in Detective School. She quotes from his text books, and is anxious to learn what she can from the man himself:
Dormer: You shouldn't knock misdemeanors.
Det. Ellie Burr: Oh, but it's small stuff. It gets so boring.
Dormer: It's all about small stuff. You know, small lies, small mistakes. People give themselves away, same in misdemeanors as they do on murder cases. It's just human nature. Aren't you gonna write that down?
When this situation arrives in a film there is an interesting sub text, and that is that the young actor is playing a character who is learning from the more experienced character, and at the same time taking an acting class. This happened in The Color of Money where Tom Cruise played a pool hustler being schooled by Fast Eddie, played by Paul Newman. Al Pacino takes Swank to school, and really gives an amazing performance. Robin Williams also gets a chance to stretch his acting chops playing the enigmatic suspect, Finch. Swank is a quick learner, and her performance is solid.
Dormer: We better find out where this came from.
Det. Ellie Burr: I tried. Mrs. Connell doesn't know, her friends didn't know.
Dormer: Have you tried the jewelry stores? Small things, remember? The second you're about to dismiss something, think about it. Look at it again.
Det. Ellie Burr: Want me to write that down?
Dormer: No, I'll remember it.
Director Christopher Nolan is also going to film school, but he is a quick learner, too. This film presented some interesting challenges. First and foremost, how do you depict insomnia without providing a cure for insomnia? Without putting the audience to sleep? The far North setting was beautiful, but all that white snow could be monotonous. Scenes in the fog were good at creating an atmosphere where the lines between right and wrong were blurred, but it could also lull you into a trance. The film was a murder mystery, but it was less concerned with finding who did it then it was with exploring moral dilemmas. The ways in which the detective and the killer were similar. If you do something wrong for the right reasons, does that make it OK? What happens once you cross that line...
Dormer: This guy crossed the line and didn't even blink.
I don't see you blinking either, Detective. Maura Tierney plays the Detective's landlady, Rachel Clement. She has an interesting take on moral dilemmas, too.
Rachel Clement: I can't judge. There are two kinds of people in Alaska: those who were born here and those who come here to escape something. I wasn't born here.
I wish this character could have been developed a little more. Just what it was she was escaping was never resolved.
The Bottom Line is that Insomnia is a solid effort by Christopher Nolan on his way to bigger and better things. I would preferr to just watch the original--besides I heard that it was darker, and some of the changes kind of watered it down. In the original his interrogation techniques are much harsher, and instead of firing his gun in a dead dog to fabricate some evidence, he kills a dog. Great performances by Swank, Pacino, and Williams, in a setting that makes a good metaphor for the grey area between wake and sleep, and right and wrong. Like Detective Ellie Burr we are left with a question:
Det. Ellie Burr: Why?
Dormer: Don't lose your way.
Memento (2000) Directed by Christopher Nolan
Scent of a Woman (1992) Al Pacino was Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) Al Pacino was Ricky Roma
Cruising (Deluxe Edition) (1980) Al Pacino was Steve Burns
Death to Smoochy (Widescreen Edition) (2002) Robin Williams was Rainbow Randolph
One Hour Photo (2002) Robin Williams was Seymour Parrish
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar (1995) (uncredited) Robin Williams was John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
Shakes the Clown (1991) (as Marty Fromage) Robin Williams was Mime Class
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Hillary Swank was Brandon Teena
Dazed and Confused (1993) Nicky Katt was Clint Bruno
Finch: You forgot the wild card, Will.
Write your own review
Description of Insomnia (Widescreen Edition)
Crime never sleeps. Neither does Will Dormer (AL PACINO), a veteran LAPD homicide detective sent north to Alaska to head a murder case. There his investigation is disrupted by an ever-shining Midnight Sun that wreaks sleep-depriving havoc on his body clock and brings Dormer's shady, guilt-plagued past into the light of day.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Biographies
Documentaries
Featurette
Filmographies
Interviews
Photo gallery
Theatrical Trailer
As a more conventional follow-up to his innovative thriller Memento, Christopher Nolan's Insomnia offers ample proof that his skills are genuine. A superbly crafted remake of the 1997 Norwegian thriller, this moody police procedural is transplanted to a remote Alaskan town, where a veteran Los Angeles detective (Al Pacino) arrives to investigate the murder of a teenaged girl. Professional tragedy collides with psychological turmoil as the detective suffers from sleeplessness under the region's perpetual daylight, and a local rookie cop (Hilary Swank) begins to suspect that truths are being hidden as the disturbing case unfolds. While the Alaskan setting intensifies the atmospheric mystery, Pacino's bleary-eyed disorientation adds a rich layer to his character's erratic behavior, and the casting of Robin Williams as the killer was a risk that pays off nicely. In many respects better than the original, Insomnia is a Hollywood remake that's refreshingly free of compromise. --Jeff Shannon
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