Rating: 
Summary: great movie
Review: loads better than the robin williams-al pacino ripoff
Rating:
Summary: Avoid the Hollywood remake
Review: Never has Hollywood been able to duplicate the rich slice of cinema that foreign films create. Insomnia is one such attempt. The Swedish version intricately develops its characters; Jonas Ingstrom whose sleeplessness unravels his sensibilities while he pursues a murderer and begins to doubt his own sanity. The depiction of the underlying swirl of mental fog is a tangible feeling. The Hollywood version has Al Pacino, looking haggard at the beginning of the film, and represents his descent into mental darkness by having his mouth hang down further and further. Just as it touches the ground, the movie is over. Hilary Swank, wherever she came from, plays the perfect girl scout, bent on earning that last merit badge. Please Hollywood, no more remakes. Didn't you learn anything from "The Vanishing?"
Rating:
Summary: Avoid the Hollywood remake
Review: Never has Hollywood been able to duplicate the rich slice of life in cinema that foreign films create. Insomnia is one such attempt. The Swedish version intricately develops its main character; Jonas Ingstrom whose sleeplessness unravels his sensibilities and brings him to doubt his own sanity while he pursues a murderer . The films depiction of the underlying swirl of mental fog is a tangible feeling to the viewer. The Hollywood version has Al Pacino, looking haggard at the beginning of the film, and then represents his descent into mental darkness by having his mouth hang down further and further, the dark circles under his eyes get darker, and experience a few bogus hallucinations. Hilary Swank, wherever she came from, plays the perfect girl scout rookie detective, bent on earning that last merit badge. She does illogical things and is just too bright and shiny for you to believe she's had any training at all. Please Hollywood, no more remakes. Didn't you learn anything from "The Vanishing?"
Rating:
Summary: That darn old MIDNIGHT SUN!
Review: Now,this one does not need sunscreen! Besides only mad Swedes go out in that glare, but what a glare. From the start of this little seen gem [alas the populace and their derision for subtitles]! However, never be misled, 'tis not what you think it is - here we delve deep into the dark unbeating heart [just a necessary prop] of our sterling knight in shining armor - our supercop sent to this remote little village of the damned, yes, they do move slower, and are paler, the climate perhaps - almost shades of a George Romero vision. Our hero cop seemingly investigates an odd local murder - the corpus delecti has been cleansed of all guilt - washed, and groomed and then dumped - at the local dump. With sidekick in tow and the rather unique local lady sleuth, our trio tries to snare the villian [?] of the piece, only this leads to a small catasprophe - sidekick is accidentally bumped off during a botched sting - this is 'pinned' on the 'killer'. AND so it continues, - slightly stained supercop still seeking somewhat serial killer starts to 'add' shall we say his own brand of evidence to this now growing crime. Possible shades of MacBeth here, but there's no sleepwalking, 'gilding the grooms within' - oh Yes.Unlike the current applauded remake this original stands alone - and it is very different from the new Star Vehicle. A great brittle soundtrack adds tremendously to this product. Excellent performances by Stellan Skarsgard as the 'hero', Bjorn Floberg as the hapless victim caught in the web, and Gisken Armand as the local almost Fargo-type sleuth. Incidentally - "Fargo" counterpoints this movie superbly! Hitchcock would have loved this one!
Rating: 
Summary: TOO MANY UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS
Review: REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS I suppose that we are supposed to blame the lead cop's insomnia for his shooting his police partner Vik during a manhunt and then covering it up, but that doesn't make much sense to me. Vik's death clearly was accidental, and Vik's mistaken recollection of where he was ordered to be during the manhunt contributed to his being shot. The authorities would have seen clearly that Vik's death was understandable and accidental, so why does he cover up this unintentional homicide? Panic? He hardly seems like the panicy type. Also, we never find out what happened to the murdered teen. We get pieces of the story, but there are too many gaps. Was it an accident, as the writer Holst often proclaims, or was it deliberate, as Holst implies on the mountaintop? As seen in the first scene, the death appears to be accidental, because who would try to murder someone in that way? Was he attempting to rape her and then she hit her head against the nail jutting out of the wall? That might explain her bruises. But why was she so warm, and why did she have such a funny smell, according to Holst? Without better understanding the emotions and motivations of the cop and the writer, I found the action of the film to be somewhat distant, and my inability to identify with the characters made the movie unsuspenseful. Insomnia kept my attention throughout the movie, but it left me rather cold at the end with the feeling of being cheated, because questions that should have been answered are left unresolved.
Rating: 
Summary: A man in limbo
Review: Stellan Skarsgard's Inspector Engstrom is a bit of an enigma. We never get a chance to see him in his natural environment and form an opinion of his behavior under normal circumstances. Instead, when we first see him, he is already in the coastal Norwegian town where he investigates a murder and entangles himself in a situation that will ultimately lead him to behave as badly as any criminal that he has ever investigated. He is not a native Norwegian and he is unaccustomed to the twenty-four hours of daylight. Unable to sleep, both his thinking and his morality becomes muddled and we are left to wonder just how close to the surface his criminal tendencies have always been. A fascinating film.
Rating:
Summary: Little known Gem
Review: Thank you Criterion for making this little known gem of a film available for all to see, and a great big double thank you to the FLAWLESS 16x9 transfer and excellent sound for this tense,well paced, Scandinavian film.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than remake
Review: The first time I saw Insomnia I was intrigued and disturbed. The second time I enjoyed the film more, but I didn't realize its beauty until I watched the remake by director Nolan. The protagonist in Nolan's version is much less of a morally ambiguous character,the cinematography is postcard beautiful and his ending very "Hollywood." The new version has helped me to see the greatness of Skjoldbaerg's film.
Rating:
Summary: A Bit More Mystery Here.....
Review: There are two excellent versions of this story out now, the American one with a terrific Al Pacino performance, and this original Norwegian version with a terrific performance by Stellan Skarsgard. Both have their strong and weak points, and while sharing a similar story they diverge quite dramatically in their overall atmosphere, philosophical take, and in several key plot elements. In many ways, I prefer this version. There is a subtle bleached-out look to this film, bathed in the never setting Midnight Sun. Skarsgard doesn't wear his insomnia on his sleeve, but we watch him unravel from it and from the stress of covering his tragic error. Pacino is great with those huge puppy eyes bloodshot and bleary from sleeplessness, but the American film provides more subtext to his error which may or may not be an improvement to the viewer. To me, I preferred the European, less clearly motivated action. The great divide is the climax of the film. In the Norwegian version, things happen by accident and happenstance, and then have to be dealt with. In the American version, much of the action is relentlessly determined from Pacino's subtext problem. It then spins itself out with the logic and predictability of most American films, and of course, all is resolved in the end with a bullet. The European take is much more surprising in that it is open to chance and accident. The byplay between detective and killer is more specific with Pacino & Williams, but also effectively carried more of the drama. In the end we see two different men, Al Pacino a burnt-out man with troubles, and Stellan Skarsgard a hollow and troubled man with a problem. The one leads to finality, the other to ambiguity. Take your choice. I like ambiquity.
Rating:
Summary: A Bit More Mystery Here.....
Review: There are two excellent versions of this story out now, the American one with a terrific Al Pacino performance, and this original Norwegian version with a terrific performance by Stellan Skarsgard. Both have their strong and weak points, and while sharing a similar story they diverge quite dramatically in their overall atmosphere, philosophical take, and in several key plot elements. In many ways, I prefer this version. There is a subtle bleached-out look to this film, bathed in the never setting Midnight Sun. Skarsgard doesn't wear his insomnia on his sleeve, but we watch him unravel from it and from the stress of covering his tragic error. Pacino is great with those huge puppy eyes bloodshot and bleary from sleeplessness, but the American film provides more subtext to his error which may or may not be an improvement to the viewer. To me, I preferred the European, less clearly motivated action. The great divide is the climax of the film. In the Norwegian version, things happen by accident and happenstance, and then have to be dealt with. In the American version, much of the action is relentlessly determined from Pacino's subtext problem. It then spins itself out with the logic and predictability of most American films, and of course, all is resolved in the end with a bullet. The European take is much more surprising in that it is open to chance and accident. The byplay between detective and killer is more specific with Pacino & Williams, but also effectively carried more of the drama. In the end we see two different men, Al Pacino a burnt-out man with troubles, and Stellan Skarsgard a hollow and troubled man with a problem. The one leads to finality, the other to ambiguity. Take your choice. I like ambiquity.
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