Insomnia (DVD 2003)

This is an incredible tour de force from an up and coming young british director, his first hollywood scale film after the brilliant Memento(2000) and the resultant cv landed him the job of resurrecting the dark knight which he did spectacularly in june'05. Insomnia carries on the same nolan audio visual experience, he has a gift in melding beautiful imagery to appropriately restrained classical music and his style is seen in all apparently disparate films to date! Blurred whitish shapes come into focus as a glacial ice field amid classical music and a tiny sea plane is framed in the foreground as a frame of reference ,we then arc behind the plane as it flies over misty tundra over a huge lake and towards a remote Alaskan village "the halibut fishing capital of the world" This film starts as a whodunnit crime investigation which goes wrong as Pacino shoots his partner in a foggy gun fight.The resultant guilt and the midnight sun render him insomnic and his psyche crumbles.As it was Internal Affairs were on his tail and his partner was going to cut a deal! He conceals the shooting blaming it on bad guy Robin Williams(excellently cast against type!) Unfortunately Williams saw it all and is black mailing Pacino.The astounding thing is how comfortable Nolan is directing these heavyweights and his signature is on the film. In the same way that Batman Begins was the best Super hero film ever made, so this is arguably the best crime thriller ever made because it is a sumptuous masterpiece to watch .I recommend you rent/buy this film asap. Rollon more Christopher Nolan films

Al Pacino dominates this film despite the presence of other top notch talent (Robin Williams, Hilary Swank). He is remarkable and memorable as an ageing LA cop Will Dormer, sent on a temporary homicide assignment to Alaska, where a schoolgirl has been killed. The killer, Walter Finch (Robin Williams), takes advantage of the fact that Alaska has 24 hours sunlight and Dormer is suffering from insomnia, which affects his ability to deal with the situation. Dormer, at first sight the hero cop, turns out to have a whole lot of baggage in the manipulative way he brings people to justice, and it all threatens to overtake him, with Finch taking advantage the whole way. Dormer, trying to squirm out of another situation he creates himself, tries to drop Finch in it, and the two men try to outwit each other. Great performances from the lead three with Robin Williams in a rare role as villain which he pulls off with great skill and a menacing quality. A touching moment at the end where Dormer, who has lost his way in life, tries to stop another cop from doing the same. Great viewing.