Extras:
Commentary by Director Christopher Nolan, Commentary by Hilary
Swank & Filmmakers, "180 Degrees: 'Christopher Nolan Interviews Al
Pacino', 'Day For Night': The Making of 'Insomnia', 'In The Fog': An
exploration of cinematography with Director of Photography Wally
Pfister, 'Eyes Wide Open': featurette on the sleeping disorder insomnia,
'From The Evidence Room': gallery of posters/stills/production designs,
Additional/Extended Scenes (with optional Director's Commentary) and the
Theatrical Trailer.
Director:
Christopher Nolan
(Insomnia, Memento)
Screenplay:
Hillary Seitz
Cast:
Will Dormer: Al Pacino
Walter Finch: Robin Williams
Ellie Burr: Hilary Swank
Rachel Clement: Maura Tierney
Hap Eckhart: Martin Donovan
Fred Duggar: Nicky Katt
Chief Charles Nyback: Paul Dooley
Randy Stetz: Jonathan Jackson
Christopher Nolan's career
has been one of fast, meteoric rise. The
British director was shooting his low-budget independent hit Following
just five years ago, then went on to direct Guy Pearce in the
critically-acclaimed
Memento
and now he's working with three Oscar
winners (Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank) in the crime
thriller Insomnia. Surely Nolan is the greatest advert for independent
filmmaking in years?
Insomnia is a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film by Erik Skjoldbjærg, in
which veteran homicide detective Dormer (Pacino) and his partner Eckhart
(Donovan) arrive at a remote town (Alaska in Nolan's version) to solve
the murder of a teenage girl. During the investigation Dormer suffers
from chronic insomnia (lack of sleep) due to the constant sunlight, and
an accident that moves him towards an uneasy alliance with the killer...
Nolan enjoys playing with convention. In Memento he twisted a
conventional revenge crime thriller into a cerebral tangle by filming
the movie backwards, but while Insomnia has a few intriguing elements
- it's by far Nolan's most conventional movie to date.
This conventional style is to the film's detriment, particularly because
the Norwegian original had a storytelling depth that overflowed with
subtext and intrigue. Nolan retains some of the best elements from the
1997 original, but the only truly successful Hollywood translation is
with the quality of acting and the gorgeous cinematography by Wally
Pfister (Memento) that evokes the cold beauty of Alaska with ease.
Al Pacino is a great actor and manages to dominate scenes whenever he is
present with his typical hangdog cool that walks on a knife's edge. It's
a character style he's been perfecting since the 70s, but despite the
lack of challenge Insomnia presents him with, he does a fine job of
grounding the movie in stark believability.
Robin Williams (whose presence in the film should have been kept secret,
but was instead used as a pivotal marketing tool) is also very good in
that quiet awkward way Williams plays most "serious" roles. This is
certainly one of the best performances of Williams' varying career, but
it doesn't help the story that the audience are just waiting for him to
appear from the very beginning.
Hilary Swank is good, but has the least interesting character to draw
from, and thus spends the movie trapped in a clichéd role of an eager
young law-enforcer star-struck by her role model (Pacino).
Christopher Nolan films things with a keen eye, relying extensively on
his cinematographer for the visual punch. However, he does manage to
chill the bones with an impressively staged underwater sequence and some
excellent location work. Nolan's direction serves the plot and actors
from the very beginning, allowing them room to breathe life into their
roles - and this approach works wonders.
But Insomnia, despite its excellent filmmaking pedigree, just doesn't
engage the audience as tightly as it should have. After the initial
set-up, things gradually decrease into a by-the-numbers crime thriller,
unlike the gritty Norwegian original. Sparks of originality and acting
punch are peppered throughout Nolan's vision, but there's not enough
courage in the movie's storytelling for the film rise much above
mediocrity.
Overall Insomnia is an impressively staged, well-acted, enjoyable
crime thriller. The pace is strong, and I'd recommend the film to anyone
who likes the crime genre - but it just doesn't stick in the mind.
Frustratingly the titular insomnia is a plot device that's sadly
underplayed and lacking in narrative punch. Pacino's suffering from
sleep deprivation? Pacino ALWAYS looks like he's suffering from sleep
deprivation!
Three words sum Insomnia up: a stylish disappointment. But then, did
you really think Nolan could top Memento anyway?
Insomnia Region 1 (Widescreen Edition) arrives in a cardboard
clip-case (the bog-standard for "Warner Brothers" DVD releases). The
artwork on the cover is quite hackneyed - stern faces bleeding through
black backgrounds is hardly original, WB!
The animated menu screens are very stylish, although they commit the
heinous crime of playing key scenes from the film itself! However, once
the play-back moment has passed the disk is quick and easy to navigate,
although the irksome voice-over from Hilary Swank's character can annoy
after awhile...
The 2.35:1 (anamorphic) widescreen transfer is quite beautiful, although
this is more to do with the work of Nolan and Pfister behind-the-scenes.
The image quality is high, with good detail levels and nice blacks.
There are no noticeable smears, grain, or artefacts to speak of. The
most effective scenes involve the majestic Alaskan landscapes or the
eerily effective fog sequence in a forest. It's in these moments that
the beauty of the image detail is most memorable.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack isn't really called upon by Nolan to do
anything beyond standard ambience. The action sequences in the film are
not particularly dynamic sound wise, although a memorable descent into a
raging river is quite effective.
The DVD release of Insomnia has a nice selection of extra features
that should prove mildly diverting.
Commentary by Director Christopher Nolan: This is only a
half-successful commentary as it has been created in the sequence of how
the film was shot and not its resulting linear run-time. Nolan himself
proves to be a frustrating listen - more concerned with "when" things
were filmed and less with "how".
Commentary by Hilary Swank & Filmmakers: The filmmakers who join actress
Hilary Swank are screenwriter Hillary Seitz, director of photography
Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley and editor Dody
Dorned. This is a more satisfying experience over Nolan's own
commentary, packed with intriguing insights into the incredibly precise
shoot of the movie.
180 Degrees: Christopher Nolan Interviews Al Pacino: This is an
on-camera interview between director Nolan and a very articulate Pacino.
There are some nice moments here in the 17-minute interview, although
it's of debatable value.
Day For Night: The Making of 'Insomnia': A good documentary on the
making of the film, although too short. Which is a shame.
In The Fog: An exploration of cinematography with Director of
Photography Wally Pfsiter, wherein Pfister and production designer
Crowley recycle their previous audio commentary observations on the
film.
Eyes Wide Open: A featurette on the sleeping disorder, insomnia,
focusing on insomniacs Phillip Lacey and Laura Robinson. Quite
interesting, although indepth advice from the experts is a little
lacking.
From The Evidence Room - a gallery of theatrical posters,
stills and production designs, the film's professional (yet spoilerish)
theatrical trailer and some additional/extended scenes (with optional
director's commentary). Most scenes are fine, although deservedly
excised.
Overall, a nice selection of extra's for a style of movie often found
snubbed of bonus material. Nothing to set the world alight (and mainly
of interest to film aficionados) but a worthy array of material
nonetheless.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
