Insomnia R1 DVD

Dan Owen reviews

InsomniaDistributed by
Warner Brothers

• Cert: R
• Running time: 118 minutes
• Year: 2002
• Pressing: 2002
• Region(s): 1, NTSC
• Chapters: 31
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English, French
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Widescreen: 2.35:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: $15.99
• Extras:Commentary by Director Christopher Nolan, Commentary by HilarySwank & Filmmakers, “180 Degrees: ‘Christopher Nolan Interviews AlPacino’, ‘Day For Night’: The Making of ‘Insomnia’, ‘In The Fog’: Anexploration of cinematography with Director of Photography WallyPfister, ‘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 theTheatrical 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 careerhas been one of fast, meteoric rise. TheBritish director was shooting his low-budget independent hit Followingjust five years ago, then went on to direct Guy Pearce in thecritically-acclaimed Mementoand now he’s working with three Oscarwinners (Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank) in the crimethriller Insomnia. Surely Nolan is the greatest advert for independentfilmmaking in years?

Insomnia is a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film by Erik Skjoldbjærg, inwhich veteran homicide detective Dormer (Pacino) and his partner Eckhart(Donovan) arrive at a remote town (Alaska in Nolan’s version) to solvethe murder of a teenage girl. During the investigation Dormer suffersfrom chronic insomnia (lack of sleep) due to the constant sunlight, andan accident that moves him towards an uneasy alliance with the killer…

Nolan enjoys playing with convention. In Memento he twisted aconventional revenge crime thriller into a cerebral tangle by filmingthe 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 becausethe Norwegian original had a storytelling depth that overflowed withsubtext and intrigue. Nolan retains some of the best elements from the1997 original, but the only truly successful Hollywood translation iswith the quality of acting and the gorgeous cinematography by WallyPfister (Memento) that evokes the cold beauty of Alaska with ease.

---

Al Pacino is a great actor and manages to dominate scenes whenever he ispresent with his typical hangdog cool that walks on a knife’s edge. It’sa character style he’s been perfecting since the 70s, but despite thelack of challenge Insomnia presents him with, he does a fine job ofgrounding 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 inthat quiet awkward way Williams plays most “serious” roles. This iscertainly one of the best performances of Williams’ varying career, butit doesn’t help the story that the audience are just waiting for him toappear from the very beginning.

Hilary Swank is good, but has the least interesting character to drawfrom, and thus spends the movie trapped in a clichéd role of an eageryoung law-enforcer star-struck by her role model (Pacino).

Christopher Nolan films things with a keen eye, relying extensively onhis cinematographer for the visual punch. However, he does manage tochill the bones with an impressively staged underwater sequence and someexcellent location work. Nolan’s direction serves the plot and actorsfrom the very beginning, allowing them room to breathe life into theirroles – and this approach works wonders.

But Insomnia, despite its excellent filmmaking pedigree, just doesn’tengage the audience as tightly as it should have. After the initialset-up, things gradually decrease into a by-the-numbers crime thriller,unlike the gritty Norwegian original. Sparks of originality and actingpunch are peppered throughout Nolan’s vision, but there’s not enoughcourage in the movie’s storytelling for the film rise much abovemediocrity.

Overall Insomnia is an impressively staged, well-acted, enjoyablecrime thriller. The pace is strong, and I’d recommend the film to anyonewho likes the crime genre – but it just doesn’t stick in the mind.Frustratingly the titular insomnia is a plot device that’s sadlyunderplayed and lacking in narrative punch. Pacino’s suffering fromsleep deprivation? Pacino ALWAYS looks like he’s suffering from sleepdeprivation!

Three words sum Insomnia up: a stylish disappointment. But then, didyou really think Nolan could top Memento anyway?

---

Insomnia Region 1 (Widescreen Edition) arrives in a cardboardclip-case (the bog-standard for “Warner Brothers” DVD releases). Theartwork on the cover is quite hackneyed – stern faces bleeding throughblack backgrounds is hardly original, WB!

The animated menu screens are very stylish, although they commit theheinous crime of playing key scenes from the film itself! However, oncethe play-back moment has passed the disk is quick and easy to navigate,although the irksome voice-over from Hilary Swank’s character can annoyafter awhile…

The 2.35:1 (anamorphic) widescreen transfer is quite beautiful, althoughthis 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. Themost effective scenes involve the majestic Alaskan landscapes or theeerily effective fog sequence in a forest. It’s in these moments thatthe beauty of the image detail is most memorable.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack isn’t really called upon by Nolan to doanything beyond standard ambience. The action sequences in the film arenot particularly dynamic sound wise, although a memorable descent into araging river is quite effective.

---

The DVD release of Insomnia has a nice selection of extra featuresthat should prove mildly diverting.

Commentary by Director Christopher Nolan: This is only ahalf-successful commentary as it has been created in the sequence of howthe film was shot and not its resulting linear run-time. Nolan himselfproves to be a frustrating listen – more concerned with “when” thingswere filmed and less with “how”.

Commentary by Hilary Swank & Filmmakers: The filmmakers who join actressHilary Swank are screenwriter Hillary Seitz, director of photographyWally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley and editor DodyDorned. This is a more satisfying experience over Nolan’s owncommentary, packed with intriguing insights into the incredibly preciseshoot of the movie.

180 Degrees: Christopher Nolan Interviews Al Pacino: This is anon-camera interview between director Nolan and a very articulate Pacino.There are some nice moments here in the 17-minute interview, althoughit’s of debatable value.

Day For Night: The Making of ‘Insomnia’: A good documentary on themaking of the film, although too short. Which is a shame.

In The Fog: An exploration of cinematography with Director ofPhotography Wally Pfsiter, wherein Pfister and production designerCrowley recycle their previous audio commentary observations on thefilm.

Eyes Wide Open: A featurette on the sleeping disorder, insomnia,focusing on insomniacs Phillip Lacey and Laura Robinson. Quiteinteresting, although indepth advice from the experts is a littlelacking.

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 optionaldirector’s commentary). Most scenes are fine, although deservedlyexcised.

Overall, a nice selection of extra’s for a style of movie often foundsnubbed of bonus material. Nothing to set the world alight (and mainlyof interest to film aficionados) but a worthy array of materialnonetheless.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Dan Owen, 2002.

E-mail Dan Owen