Sunday 1 August 2010

Insomnia

I've not had the best sleep this week with my bad neck aching and my lack of exercise to rest my neck making my back ache also. Last night I felt exhausted by about 10.30 pm, but...... Christopher Nolan's Insomnia was on the Beeb and I was determined to watch it. With Nolan's last few films being so impressive I decided to watch Insomnia for a second time and take careful note of his techniques and style.

Pacino plays, Will Dormer, an LA detective who has been sent with his partner to help out an investigation in a small town in Alaska. The thing is that this time of year the sun doesn't set and Dormer has a lot on his mind. With Dormer worrying that his partner's part in an internal affairs investigation will lead to the digging up of all Dormer's old cases he isn't pleased. When Dormer accidentally shoots his partner when chasing the murderer of a teenager through the fog things become more complicated, especially as the murderer has seen him. As Dormer and the murderer Walter Finch, played by Robin Williams, embark on a cat and mouse chase trying to get one over on each other things become more and more surreal for Dormer as he struggles to sleep in the ever sunny town.

Insomnia is a great film because it's quite simple in it's themes and morals, but the story takes several twists and turns which complicate it, but ensure it is still easy to follow. Pacino is more than convincing as Dormer who struggles to deal with his conscious and lack of sleep over the space of 6 long days and nights. Williams is eery as the murderer Finch and the two of them work nicely together on screen as complete opposite characters sharing a common worry - being found guilty of murder.

It is evident that Nolan's slick style and trickery with the camera as well as his storytelling abilities are finding their feat in Insomnia and laying the foundations for his later run outs on Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and Inception.

Insomnia is a fantastic film and well worth a watch, but try not to watch it whilst tired. As I struggled to keep my eyes open to get to the end of the film I found myself empathising with Dormer so much that when I got to bed I struggled to get to sleep.

No comments:

Post a Comment