Ray Pride

"Insomnia" gleams. Christopher Nolan's remake of Erik Skjoldbaerg's 1997, Norway-set thriller is a more-than-worthy parallel film, standing on its own for its quiet wit, sorrowful tone and moments of timeless elegance. The cruel murder of a teenage girl leads troubled career L. A. homicide cop Al Pacino and his partner, Martin Donovan, to tiny Nightmute, Alaska. Pacino's Detective Dormer (as in the French dormir, to sleep) must face not only evil, but ultimate responsibility. As a visual director, Nolan, blessedly, is eager to presume rapture is good, but is impatient enough that the look never becomes honeyed. Dody Dorn's terse, idiosyncratic cutting is complemented by the work of cinematographer Wally Pfister, but most noteworthy is Nolan's casting and direction of actors. Sturdy, distinctive performers like Donovan, Nicky Katt, Paul Dooley, Maura Tierney and Robin Williams impress, and in only her second worthy role, Hilary Swank is winning as a toothily earnest local cop who puts a couple of two-and-twos together. The eye is flattered by a camera that sneaks, tickles, darts and the ear is treated to remarkable line readings. The script (credited to the 1997 version by Skjoldbjaerg and Nikolai Frobenius) flirts with a nihilism almost as extreme as that of "Memento," and while Nolan works more with simultaneous crosscutting here instead of the temporal shifts of his first two films, there are a series of images woven into the film's opening that are patiently explicated throughout the narrative. Plus: a cocky teenager gets to rail on Pacino: "Hey fuck you! You're just a little prick in a leather jacket, fuck you!" Pacino's smile? Genius. Pacino's last line in the film? Grace itself.

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