Insomnia (1998)

Undescribable Perfection

That was an excellent one.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

In a Norwegian city with a 24-hour daylight cycle a Swedish murder investigator has been brought in on a special case. Sleep deprived, he makes a horrible mistake which is discovered by the killer he has been hunting.My familiarity with Scandinavian film is rather limited, but if this is any indication of where the region was in the 1990s, maybe they deserve a closer look. This is colored beautifully, with some hazy blues to add mood, but also incredibly gritty and dark in its own way.I need to look into this more, as well as the short films of the director. Maybe, just maybe, this is an area that needs more recognition.

The Christopher Nolan remake of "Insomnia" surprisingly enough isn't well liked by everybody but generally speaking it is being regarded as one of the best crime-thrillers of recent years. I wonder how many people actually know it's a remake of this Norwegian movie, that was released 5 years earlier. Just like most people, I saw the remake before the original.And the the invertible question which on is the better movie; the original or its remake. In this case I really have to say Christopher Nolan's. It does a better job at capturing the atmosphere and the sense of insomnia, that the main character is suffering from. And no matter how great Stellan Skarsgård is, he of course ain't no Al Pacino! Biggest or most significant difference between the two movie is, is that the remake is a longer movie and for some good reasons. It takes its time with its buildup, which enhances the movie its tension and mystery.But it's of course not fair and perhaps even a bit silly to compare this movie to the remake because it of course got released first and is the original movie, which the superior 2002 got based on. And you could say it's pretty much a scene by scene remake, with only a few additions put into it. But I'll just judge this movie for what it is and pretend like I have never seen the remake.When doing so, you'll have to say that "Insomnia" is one original movie within its genre. It starts off like any other typical genre movie, in which a policeman is flown in to solve a murder case. The story however soon starts to take some twists and it starts to become apparent that this is not going to be an ordinary case, in which the main character is the perfect, righteous hero, who'll solve the case cleanly.The story is definitely the movie its biggest strength. It lets the movie distinct itself from anything else and its were all of the movie its surprises are coming from.But what also helps are its cold, depressing, looking settings, in rural Norway, that set the entire mood and atmosphere for the movie. It adds to the whole mystery of the movie as well, though it isn't really the mystery or the murder that plays the most significant part in the movie. It more relies on its other dramatic developments and its characters, which all makes the movie a surprising and tense one at times.In the end it doesn't really matter whether you have already seen the original or not and it also doesn't really matter that I consider the remake superior to this original. The movie simply remains a more than great and original watch within its genre.8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Two Swedish policemen, one of them Stellan Skarsgard, arrive in northern Norway to help solve the murder of a high-school girl. The killer is almost trapped but escapes into the fog along the shore. By mistake, Skarsgard shoots and kills his partner. He invents a story in which the girl's murderer shot his partner. Later he's invited by the girl's killer to meet at an isolated place. The two agree to pin the murder on the dead girl's boyfriend, an obnoxious kid anyway. But Skarsgard, plagued by his conscience and the midnight sun, has been unable to sleep and makes an attempt to capture the killer. The killer clobbers Skarsgard and then accidentally falls to his death. A Norwegian policewoman has figured out roughly what went on but contemptuously allows Skarsgard to go back home where, it is fondly hoped, he'll be able to sleep again, although we are left with grave doubts about that. The final freeze frame is of Skarsgard's face and everything fades to black except for his eyes, which are wide open and glow in the dark like an uneasy animal's.Stellan Skarsgard is just about perfect for the role of the insomniac cop. He always looks half asleep anyway. He slouches around, placid, bookish, as if his mind were elsewhere, maybe in wonderland. You can't ruffle him. When the murderer shoots off his shotgun into the plaster ceiling over his shoulder, Skarsgard simply moves his head to the side with an expression of mild distaste. I show more animation when the dentist says, "Turn this way a little." It's a slow film though, a story of intrigue and character, rather than a who-dunnit with a lot of ancillary action. What I mean is that it's quite different from the American remake that starred Al Pacino. Pacino is equally good at projecting exhaustion but in a very different way.The logic in this film isn't as clear as that in the remake. Here, Skarsgard can have absolutely no motive for shooting his partner of more than a year. In the remake, Pacino's partner was about to squeal on him for some irregularities to Internal Affairs. And here, all it takes is a single phone call for Skarsgard to agree to meet the killer. Pacino had to listen to Robin Williams sympathize with him about his insomnia. And Pacino's hallucinations were far more vivid -- a massive truck bearing down on him in his lane -- while Skarsgard's are more subtle -- a glimpse of his dead partner's face staring through a window. The remake is palpably "American". It ends with a shoot out that Williams' heavy has never shown himself capable of. Shotguns and pistols bark. Seaside fishing shacks are blown to smithereens. So is Williams, while Pacino dies after a few parting words. The European original ends with a dying fall and an ambiguous hint of things to come. (Those glowing eyes.) Neither film is a masterpiece. They both fit nicely into the generic frame of the guilty cop movie. And in some ways I prefer the remake. It's pace is faster and the characters' motivations are explored in greater depth, and finally it makes more sense. But that stupid final shoot out works against it and it is, after all, not the original, so it gets no bonus points.

An absorbing film that never lets the viewer down, INSOMNIA remains faithful to its premise from frame first to last. There's not a single aspect of this film to be found lacking. I'd seen it a couple of years ago, but it wasn't until I just recently revisited it that I felt compelled to comment on it- to put in my two cent's worth, as it may be. In its uncompromising scrutiny, it's as fascinating a "search for truth" as THE INTERVIEW (another compelling film I highly recommend). I never saw- nor intend to see- the "American version." I've seen far too many unnecessary American remakes of good foreign films to care about seeing one more. (THE VANISHING was an excellent, suspenseful foreign film; the American "re-imagining" was laugh-out-loud ridiculous. Jeff Bridges happens to be one of my all-time favorite actors, but the otherworldly "accent" he so badly mangles in the remake makes him look like a fool.) (And, speaking of fools doing remakes, give Knob Zombie's un-imagining of John Carpenter's classic HALLOWEEN a pass: Let's just call it SHALLOWEEN and put the legend to rest once and for all.)