Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
- Awards
- 1 win & 11 nominations
Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe
- Kay Connell
- (as Crystal Lowe)
- Director
- Writers
- Hillary Seitz
- Nikolaj Frobenius(1997 screenplay)
- Erik Skjoldbjærg(1997 screenplay)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSir Christopher Nolan told TIME Magazine that he had to deal with leading actors with highly different approaches. Al Pacino insisted on meticulous preparation, serious talks about character motivation and lots of takes, Robin Williams preferred hardly any rehearsal, but many takes, and Hilary Swank wished to do just a few takes to stay completely focused. Nolan therefore let Pacino and Williams freely experiment and work things out together, in order to get attuned to each other.
- GoofsDormer, a seasoned police detective who demonstrates in the story that he understands the properties of blood, including DNA and proteins, chooses to use hot water to clean the blood off his clothes (you can see the hot water tap is wide open and the cold tap is closed in the sink in his hotel room). Hot water binds blood to clothes and makes a permanent stain. Cold water removes blood.
- Quotes
Will Dormer: You don't get it do you, Finch? You're my job. You're what I'm paid to do. You're about as mysterious to me as a blocked toilet is to a fucking plumber. Reasons for doing what you did? Who gives a fuck?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Day for Night: The Making of 'Insomnia' (2002)
- SoundtracksSparks
Written by Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin
Performed by Coldplay
Courtesy of EMI Records Ltd.
Under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets
Featured review
Hardly a sleeper
As said in my reviews for his masterpiece 'Memento' and the fascinating 'The Prestige', Christopher Nolan has always struck me as a very talented film-maker, and most of his films are ones that have impressed me a lot. Even weaker efforts, where his ambition can get in the way, have a good deal to admire. His films are all impeccably crafted technically, and often entertaining and thought-provoking, also knowing how to get good performances out of talented casts.
'Insomnia' is not one of Nolan's best films, but not his worst. For me it's somewhere in the middle if ranking his films, 'Memento' being his best and, while with a lot of impressive elements, 'Interstellar' being the one that impressed least. It shows fidelity to the Norwegian original, but doesn't go so far that it's a pale retread, in a way that is summed up very well by Roger Ebert.
Nolan directs with impeccable style and sense of atmosphere, as well as an ability to tell a potentially convoluted story with clarity without resorting to excess and over-ambition. Much of 'Insomnia' is exceptionally well made, while beautiful Alaska has rarely been more oppressive as well while the cinematography has grit and class. David Julyan's music score is not quite as complex as that for 'Memento', but has a very effective eeriness.
The script is tight and thoughtful, and the story, filled with neat twists and turns, is hugely compelling and atmospheric, never being too simple but complex enough to still be understandable and be respectful to the viewer. The cat and mouse stuff could have been predictable and convoluted but executed in masterly hair-raising but also quiet tension.
Performances are all strong across the board. While underused somewhat, Martin Donovan and especially Hilary Swank are great here. It is however Al Pacino and Robin Williams who are even better. Pacino gives perhaps his best performance since 'Heat' and he has to me definitely not been on this amount of blistering form as he is in 'Insomnia'. Williams is cast against type, and he plays a genuinely terrifying character with menace but also dignity and restraint.
Flaws are only a couple, with the film ending too conveniently and some of the editing being a touch too jumpy.
All in all, a gripping film and hardly a sleeper. 8/10 Bethany Cox
'Insomnia' is not one of Nolan's best films, but not his worst. For me it's somewhere in the middle if ranking his films, 'Memento' being his best and, while with a lot of impressive elements, 'Interstellar' being the one that impressed least. It shows fidelity to the Norwegian original, but doesn't go so far that it's a pale retread, in a way that is summed up very well by Roger Ebert.
Nolan directs with impeccable style and sense of atmosphere, as well as an ability to tell a potentially convoluted story with clarity without resorting to excess and over-ambition. Much of 'Insomnia' is exceptionally well made, while beautiful Alaska has rarely been more oppressive as well while the cinematography has grit and class. David Julyan's music score is not quite as complex as that for 'Memento', but has a very effective eeriness.
The script is tight and thoughtful, and the story, filled with neat twists and turns, is hugely compelling and atmospheric, never being too simple but complex enough to still be understandable and be respectful to the viewer. The cat and mouse stuff could have been predictable and convoluted but executed in masterly hair-raising but also quiet tension.
Performances are all strong across the board. While underused somewhat, Martin Donovan and especially Hilary Swank are great here. It is however Al Pacino and Robin Williams who are even better. Pacino gives perhaps his best performance since 'Heat' and he has to me definitely not been on this amount of blistering form as he is in 'Insomnia'. Williams is cast against type, and he plays a genuinely terrifying character with menace but also dignity and restraint.
Flaws are only a couple, with the film ending too conveniently and some of the editing being a touch too jumpy.
All in all, a gripping film and hardly a sleeper. 8/10 Bethany Cox
helpful•274
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jan 24, 2017
- How long is Insomnia?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $46,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $67,355,513
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $20,930,169
- May 26, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $113,758,770
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content