Insomnia: Nolan thriller with Pacino and Williams deserves more attention

Polygon calls Christopher Nolan's 2002 thriller Insomnia an underrated entry for Nolan and its leads, Al Pacino and Robin Williams, and notes the film is set in Nightmute, Alaska during the spring when the sun never sets.

It follows LAPD detective Will Dormer (Pacino) and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan), who are sent to Nightmute to help investigate the murder of teenager Kay Connell. Dormer and Eckhart are already under internal affairs scrutiny for planting evidence; during a pursuit Dormer, believing he is firing at suspect Walter Finch (Williams), accidentally kills Eckhart. Dormer then tries to conceal his role while Finch, the only witness, repeatedly tries to blackmail him, and the story uses Dormer’s growing insomnia and moral ambiguity to create disorientation and tension. The piece also notes Insomnia is a remake of a Norwegian film Nolan did not write, and that it was his third film and his first after Memento.

The write-up argues the movie was partly overlooked because Pacino was playing similar police roles at the time and Williams appeared the same year in One Hour Photo, while Nolan later made higher-profile films; nonetheless it concludes Insomnia deserves more recognition for Pacino’s measured, sleep-deprived performance, Williams’s cold, quietly menacing turn, and Nolan’s controlled direction. The film is available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube.

Key Topics

Culture, Insomnia, Christopher Nolan, Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Nightmute, Alaska