Insomnia

Other than the obvious physical relocation of the story, the biggest difference between Erik’s Skjoldbjaerg’s Insomnia and the new Hollywood version of the film lies in its portrayal of the story’s main character. Both movies follow a police insomniac police detective on the trail of a murderer. The difference is in the moral judgment each version of the film makes—or doesn’t make—about its characters.

While the original film was content to put is Swedish detective (Stellan Skarsgard) through a psychological crisis that was intentionally shadowed in private psychological uncertainties and, ultimately, goes unresolved at the end of the film, the new film remakes its Los Angeles detective’s (Al Pacino) crisis into a simpler sort of conflict that has a clear beginning, middle, and end. This version of the story chooses to judge its protagonist. The original does not. The result is a remake that is less morally ambiguous, making it easier to watch then the original, and therefore no doubt destined to reach a wider audience.

Fans of director Christopher Nolan may be disappointed. Although he does a nice job directing the film, Nolan wasn’t involved in the writing of the film’s screenplay, and Insomnia uses a very conventional narrative structure. Therefore Nolan, whose earlier films Memento and Following used severe time shifts for dramatic effect, seems a little less confident as a director without his signature device in tow, choosing a more passive, less intrusive directorial style that largely defers to the talents of the actors and screenwriter.

The film is well written, and extremely well acted. Hilary Swank is outstanding in a relatively small role. For all their respective talent, unfortunately Pacino and Williams aren’t quite able to establish the king of chemistry between them I was hoping for, and I didn’t find Williams completely convincing as a murderer. The least appealing thing about this movie, though, is the way it forces the original story into the big-budget summer movie marketing demographic mold cast from the usual adamantine Hollywood clichés. In doing so, Nolan’s Insomnia ultimately allows everyone involved, detective and killer, director, actors, and audience, to take the easy way out. Skjoldbjaerg’s film doesn’t do that.

Matt Parks (June 1, 2002)