Insomnia (2002)

The Worst Film Ever

From my favorite movies..

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Movie Review: "Insomnia" (2002)Christopher Nolan, at age 31, finally receiving his Hollywood ticket to the major league at Warner Bros. Pictures in spring 2001 after making "furore" with memorable independent thriller "Memento" starring Guy Pearce to be adviced to direct star-actor Al Pacino, reviving inspector-seeking-the-truth genre hits as "Serpico" (1973) directed by Sidney Lumet or "Sea of Love" (1989) directed by Harold Becker and unusual intensely-dark playing Robin Williams (1951-2014) to full mind binding nemesis character confrontations of two stunning staccato-cut on-foot chase sequences in frozen, exotic blue/white reflecting glaciers in further highly-atmospheric on-set exteriors locations in Alaska, USA and British Columbia, Canada; when executive producers Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney in favors for a Warner Bros. remake of a rarely-known less accomplished original thriller from 1997 starring Stellan Skarsgard as sleepless delusional inspector Jonas Engström under the lucky-strike direction by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, realized at age 32, where Christopher Nolan exceeds the original with an entrusted group of production crew key people as cinematographer Wally Pfister and score composer David Julyan to deliver more than necessary coverage in a rather comfortable 10-week-period of principal photography in summer 2001 for an unusual late release in May 24th 2002 with the director's final-cut-denial clause due to respect to editor Dody Dorn, who lets supporting acting on high convictions running actress Hilary Swank become the furture star-actress to be fulfilled as streetwise femal boxer in Clint Eastwood directed Academy-Award-winning picture "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) also distributed by Warner Bros. Studios. © 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

Al Pacino stars as a Los Angeles homicide detective sent along with is partner Martin Donovan to the small town of Nightmute, Alaska to help with the investigation of a brutal homicide. They have partly been sent because local police chief Paul Dooley is a retired LA cop, but also because Internal Affairs has been investigating them and their boss wants them out of town. Donovan reveals to Pacino that he's been considering cooperating, a move that would ruin Pacino. While tracking down the murderer, a brutal accident puts Pacino in the hot seat. He tries to cover up his involvement, while suffering from insomnia due to the 24 hour daylight in this part of the world. Local rookie cop Hilary Swank, a great admirer of Pacino's, starts to realize something is wrong ... and the murderer (Robin Williams) himself contacts Pacino, revealing he knows what really happened and that he can help them both. This seems to be the least talked about of Nolan's films, which is a shame because it's a sharp and interesting remake of the 1997 Norwegian film that starred Stellan Skarsgard in Pacino's role. It's not a carbon copy of the original film, going different places with the same material. It's also one of the last really strong performances we got from Pacino.

Insomnia is directed by Christopher Nolan and was released in the year 2002. Walter Finch is the antagonist of the movie and is portrayed by Robin Williams. He is a really calm and cool villain who is always one step ahead of the hero, Will Domer (Al Pacino). Don't trust him by his innocent looks as he is capable of doing much harm that you can't even imagine. Even though Insomnia remains as one of the most underrated works of Nolan till date, Walter Finch is definitely one of the finest villains ever in the movies.Instead of darkness and shadow, the movie takes place in unforgiving, continuous brightness, the 24-hour daylight of a small town in Alaska in the summer months, where a teenage girl has been discovered beaten to death, her body showing signs of ritual killing. A grizzled LA detective is brought in to show the local cops how to take down a villain this scary – a detective who has accepted this godforsaken assignment because he is in trouble with the Internal Affairs department back in the big city. His investigation goes horrifically wrong and his bad conscience, his festering awareness of career mortality and his screwed-up circadian rhythms mean that he is driven slowly mad with sleep deprivation: a kind of fatal familial insomnia of the soul.Only those people who don't suffer from insomnia have the luxury of thinking it's a disturbing metaphor – when the simple physical condition itself is what is truly disturbing. So Al Pacino is inspired casting as the haggard detective Will Dormer, the policeman with the world's most ironic name. Nolan contrives a weirdly Inception dream- like chase between the two men across logs on a freezing river, and also sets up some terrific, Michael Mann-style head-to-head clashes as Dormer tells the creepy writer exactly what he thinks of him. "You have no motivation," snarls Pacino, You're about as mysterious to me as a blocked toilet is to a f*%king plumber!"

Christopher Nolan takes on a noir detective story with a unique location. Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) arrives in Alaska, tired but ready to work. He and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) are greeted by local policewoman Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank). The Los Angeles detectives are investigating the murder of a young high school girl Kay Connell (Crystal Low) but Dormer is disoriented by the daylight in the middle of the night. They stay at a hotel run by Rachel Clement (Maura Tierney). Hap is being investigated by Internal Affairs and is thinking of confessing which would incriminate Will. The next morning on little sleep, Will and Hap head to the high school to interrogate Kay's boyfriend Randy Stetz (Jonathan Jackson) who is uncooperative during the questioning. He does admit that Kay was seeing someone else but he doesn't know who it is. Will treats Ellie as a protégé schooling her on the procedure and the little things of an investigation. When Kay's bookbag is found in a cabin, it provides clues and a trap for Will to devise. Dormer continues to threat over the IA investigation, doubting his own tactics. When the amateur Alaskan police botch the stakeout alerting the suspect, a foot chase ensues through the cabin and fog. A policeman is shot but Will Dormer pursues the suspect across slick rocks and fires into the mist possibly shooting and killing his partner Hap. Overcome with grief, Will is unable to sleep and keeps reflecting back on his previous shortcuts he took to nab awful criminals. He works to cover up the possibility that he shot his partner as he becomes increasingly dazed. Noises disturb him and he hallucinates his partner giving him accusatory looks. The killer calls him up on the phone and reveals that he knows of Will's guilt in killing his partner. Ellie suspects that something isn't quite right with Will's account of his partner's shooting. Will confront Tanya Francke (Katharine Isabelle) taking her to the dump where Kay's body was dumped after spooking her by playing chicken with a truck. Tanya mentions Kay's secret lover who promised the young victim all sorts of things. The killer calls him again at the station taunting him about what he knows and Will offers to meet him. He deciphers the clues and heads to the house of Walter Finch (Robin Williams), a mystery novel author.Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com