<< Back 5/29/02 Flicks: 'Insomnia' By Hunter Pope Insomnia Director: Christopher Nolan Cast: Al Pacino, Hillary Swank, Robin Williams Rating: R— language, some violence, brief nudity, and an overwhelming desire to sleep for a very long time Area Sightings: Hollywood-Regal Cinema 14, United Artists Beaucatcher and Biltmore Square Cinemas Written by: Hillary Seitz, based on a screenplay by Nikolaj Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjaerg, who did the original “Insomnia,” a 1998 Norwegian film. Rarely do I feel the urge for nappy time during a movie. The collective crunch of popcorn meeting molars, the surround sound that can bloodlet an ear cavity, and the overall excitement of being at the cinemas usually keeps me from succumbing to shuteye. However, after seeing “Insomnia,” a new thriller starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams and directed by newcomer Christopher Nolan (who directed the incredible and unsettling “Memento”), I found myself wanting to stretch out in the aisle. No, the movie is not boring nor is it of a crappy variety. Quite the opposite. “Insomnia” is perhaps the best movie among a tower of blockbusters that infiltrate every summer like an enlarged chigger. It’s clever, dialogue rich, suspenseful, and you’ll find yourself talking about it way after the credits have meandered off the screen. So you’re probably wondering to yourself, “what the hell is this fickle critic talking about?” One look at Al Pacino’s character, Det. Will Dormer, and you’ll understand. From the minute he gets off the plane in Nightmute, Alaska, (home of the midnight sun and the halibut fishing capital of the world), it is an exercise in tiredness. Pacino must have studied sleep deprivation for years because he has to be the most fatigued man ... I ... have ... ever .... Where was I? Let’s see — something about the new movie “Insomnia,” followed by lots of drool, and oh yes, how weary Al Pacino looks. His character gave me emotions that were more conflicted than admitting to watching Jerry Springer. My nails were putting chunked slits into the armrest, while my brain was telling me to don a nightcap. And it gets worse as the movie progresses. For a couple of months each year, the land of the midnight sun never fades into darkness. This 24-hour light usually wreaks havoc on any visitor, and Det. Dormer (which may be a play off the Spanish verb, “dormir” which means “to sleep”) never adapts. His sleeps are futile, and as his murder investigation increases, his judgment skills decrease. And Detective Dormer needs every skill possible. A decorated police investigator from L.A., Dormer and his partner, Hal Eckart (Martin Donovan), are sent to investigate a teen’s murder in remote Alaska. The duo is sent mainly to avoid an Internal Affairs investigation that is shredding the L.A. police force. Dormer is a celebrity, a cerebral cop who has solved some of the most enigmatic whodunits. He is sent to Alaska so his name will remain polished. His partner, on the other hand, is scared. Hal wants to make a deal with I.A., a toilet bowl reaction that will suck Dormer down with him. Dormer maliciously resents this decision, and his tired face has a look of almost murderous contempt. But, first, there’s a case to solve. The head of the investigation is Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank from “Boys Don’t Cry”), a wet behind the ears cop who is enamored by the famous Dormer. She slobs praise on him as she hands him the case — the victim is a 17-year-old girl who was beaten to death. Clues are nonexistent. The killer cleverly erased any clues, and did it in a slow methodical manner. “This guy, he crossed a line,” Dormer says, “and he didn’t even blink.” Dormer is a veteran of the cat and mouse game, and it doesn’t take him long to find the killer’s hideout. Unfortunately, the killer is as astute as Dormer, and not a tenth as tired. A chase ensues in a pea soup fog, and utter confusion contributes to Dormer’s partner being shot and killed. The killer gets away, and now Dormer must live with his partner’s death ... as well as not being able to sleep. It’s at this point that director Nolan tightens the screws on every character’s mentality. He creates a conflict of emotion, much like the one I felt between squirminess and sleep. Dormer must still solve the case, but now he has to cover up a death that he may have been responsible for. His student, Ellie Burr, is naïve at first, but she has to sharpen her wits as she plunges into an investigation of Eckart’s untimely death. As she delves further, she learns that her hero Dormer is not as infallible as she perceived. She must make a decision of being honorable or hiding a festering truth. And then Walter Finch (Robin Williams) comes along. Finch is a writer of trash fiction, a calm individual with a legion of demons lurking under the skin. He is the killer, and a very clever one at that. He calls Dormer when he knows the detective can’t sleep, throwing mind games at a weary man who can’t raise a hand in protest. Finch has a secret on Dormer, and Dormer on him. Dormer’s career will end when Finch is arrested. The detective knows this, and he realizes he must bargain with a man who slowly beat a teen to death. The end result makes the viewer question the validity of good and evil, and cop and criminal. “Insomnia” blurs the lines of all these opposites. It makes us realize that doing what’s right doesn’t always fall into a black and white category. And since this all takes place in the midnight sun, all transgressions are seen in the light of day. Guilt has nowhere to hide. Although “Insomnia” is more linear than Nolan’s jigsaw piece, “Memento,” we are still treated to a brain tickler. He has an acute sense for playing with tricks of light, and he creates a hallucinatory hell around Dormer’s insomnia. Nolan also has panache for delving into a character’s psyche and presenting every vulnerable wart. This time he has two actors in Pacino and Williams that understand how to play haunting characters. Pacino (as always) is incredible, and his reserved nature looks like an old kettle that can’t quite elicit that boiling scream. Robin Williams is so good that I have now forgiven him for “Flubber.” There is no comic injection in his character Finch. He has a reserved, dead calm nature to him that belies the calculating monster underneath. “Walter Finch is a man who has drifted across the line and has found himself comfortable with that,” executive Steven Soderbergh commented in a press release. “He’s such a withdrawn, interior character, and to see Robin Williams in that state is oddly compelling. Walter is trying to control himself, to be normal, while struggling with so much on the inside. Robin plays this dichotomy perfectly.” And let’s not forget Hillary Swank. Although her faux gender role in “Boys Don’t Cry” will be her landmark performance, she turns what should be a minor character into the linchpin of the movie. Like the men, her character is in a constant clash with herself, and she undergoes transformations underneath a sun that never does. Do not be surprised if this quartet (the trio of actors and the director) is summoned to the Oscars. “Insomnia” is a landmark in suspense movies — an exciting film that makes you want to sleep. I hear that Nolan’s next movie will be a comedy. Apparently, you won’t have the urge to laugh .... (Hunter Pope can be reached at w.h.pope@worldnet.att.net)