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| View Larger Image | Insomnia - Criterion Collection | DVDStarring: Maria Mathiesen, Stellan Skarsgård, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Gisken Armand, Kristian Figenschow
Directed By: Erik Skjoldbjærg
| List Price: | $29.95 | | Price: | $26.99 | | You Save: | $2.96 (10%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 97 minutes | | Format: | Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | Criterion | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.85:1 | | Release Date: | July 13, 1999 | | Sales Rank: | 31,396st |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Disgraced Swedish detective Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) travels to northern Norway to solve a brutal murder in Insomnia. Unable to sleep through the night of the midnight sun, Engström quickly loses his grip on the case and his mind. Erik Skjoldbjærg's debut feature is a deft amalgam of psychological thriller, morality play, and police procedural. Criterion presents the DVD premiere of Insomnia in a new widescreen transfer. |
Amazon.com
This 1997 film from Norway and neophyte director Erik Skjoldbjærg delivers the goods with unsettling effectiveness. It's an intense, smart, and taut thriller if only because what it eerily implies is creepier than the film's reality. Opening with a churning, chilling murder of a young woman, Insomnia invites the viewer--as well as its protagonist, celebrated Oslo homicide cop Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård)--into the mind and thoughts of a killer by making Engström fatally flawed himself. While in pursuit of the murderer, Engström makes a mistake; he accidentally shoots his partner and friend and covers up his deed in a panic. But he overlooks a minor detail: the real killer has seen him commit the crime. What ensues is a layered, complex, and unnerving descent into chaos, brought on by the inability to sleep in this land of the midnight sun. Engström suffers from insomnia, which warps his logic and resolve, and before long he's totally unraveled and unsure of his every move. But not before a twisty transference and countertransference occurs between cop and killer. The two play a game of high-stakes one-upmanship that surprises in the end. Insomnia is fresh and psychologically bent, full of Scandinavian despair and dark humor, and it boasts a film noir pulse beneath its blinding light. --Paula Nechak |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 63 reviews)
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INSOMNIA...A comparison by C. Christopher Blackshere (stalking you from the shadows)  5 Stars
May 21, 2009
Upon my initial viewing of Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjaerg's INSOMNIA, I must say I heavily favored the American remake. But, after a second watch of this original, I was able to better construe much of the psychological complexities that dwell within the framework of this story.
This is a much darker exploration into the fragility of the human soul.
Instead of Alaska, this takes place in Northern Norway, just above the Artic circle.
Stellan Skarsgard(Good Will Hunting) plays Jonas Engstrom, the detective transferred to help with the case. This cop seems to have a bit of a lurid past. Possibly a dainty, immoral disposition in regards to his sexual tendencies. His partner jokingly mentions that Jonas was caught having an "intimate conversation" with an important witness to a previous case. This immediately sets an apprehensive tone to the movie, and casts the lead character as a man with questionable ethics.
In the remake, Pacino is the highly regarded detective who tampered with evidence in order to imprison a rapist/killer. Although this was a blatant violation of police procedure, it helps the viewer sympathize with his efforts of stopping the bad guys. A much easier road.
In the fog, Jonas accidentally shoots his partner. An honest mistake. But why does he try to hide this fact? I think possibly because of the guilt from his past, he didn't want any more of his mistakes exposed.
Pacino had more of a reason to murder his partner, due to the apparent upcoming betrayal with Internal Affairs. This is a much more cut and dried premise behind his acts of deception. Hollywood prefers to incorporate obvious reasons for each character's actions, so you don't have to contemplate.
Some other differences:
-Jonas shoots a live dog and retracts the bullet for false evidence. Pacino conveniently finds a dead dog to shoot?
-Jonas tries to kiss the hotel receptionist, which was inappropriate. Pacino keeps it friendly.
-Jonas takes the high school girl for a ride in the car, and he rubs on her thigh in a very provocative manner. Creepy. The honorable Pacino resists this temptation.
-Jonas secretly watches the high school couple have sex. Creepy. Of course I enjoyed seeing the hot naked young chick too, so I shouldn't be judgemental.
I loved the route this foreign film took. Still a couple of slight things I thought the remake did better:
-during the interrogation at the high school, the student tried to punch the cop? And he didn't get arrested?
-the students were played by some older looking actors? 30yr olds usually have graduated from high school.
-the chase scene over the floating logs was intense. Not in the original.
-I loved Robin Williams performance as the bad guy
Overall, it's hard to pick a favorite. Both are great films. Still I have to go with this original, due to it's dark elements which make it slightly more believable. If you prefer things spelled out for you and a little more light-hearted, you should stick with the American version.
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A must see by J. Bailor 5 Stars
March 05, 2009
If you've ever seen Insomnia with Al Pacino, you'll love Insomnia with Stellan Skarsgard. Even though it has subtitles, it's, hands down, the better version. Buy it, you won't be sorry!
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Cat and mouse game by Bradley F. Smith (Miami Beach, FL) 5 Stars
September 14, 2008
A Nordic thriller, this bleak but beautiful film is meticulously constructed. It tells of a cop who mistakenly shoots a man, then tries to cover it up, only to have his acts slowly unravel as his colleagues look for clues and they all seem to point to him. He's guilty, so he can't sleep. Thus the title. Nice twist at the ending, too. Watch it.
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Psychological thriller... by D. Kanigan (CT, USA) 5 Stars
July 22, 2008
Norwegian film with English subtitles. Psychological murder thriller that is a brisk 90 minutes in length. Two Swedish detectives, lauded for their crime solving prowess, arrive in Norway to solve the murder of a 19 year old girl. Engstrom, the lead detective, craftily cons the murderer back to the crime scene and surrounds the site with Norwegian police. The murderer manages to elude the group and Engstrom and the police take pursuit. Engstrom manages to make a terrible mistake in the man hunt - he then takes actions to cover it up. His guilt overwhelms him and he is unable to fall asleep - night after night he faces waves of dreams of the horrific incident - and wakes up in cold sweat...and then walks around bleary eyed and paranoid during the day - trying to solve the murder on one hand and getting further entangled in his cover-up on the other. You walk in Engstrom's shoes during the movie - feeling his exhaustion - his paranoia - his overwhelming guilt - and the tension runs in this flick until its conclusion. Great movie...set in beautiful northern Norway - alternating between land of the midnight sun and dreary heavy fog - a perfect background.
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Norge! Norge! Norge! by E. Drake (Northeast, USA)  4 Stars
March 21, 2008
I just finished watching this movie and I have been wondering what makes this movie special. Stripping this film of its foreignness, I realized that this would be a great thriller/crime drama here in the states, sure to do well in the box office and probably be up there in the average B+ range for critics. Tossing that foreignness back on, the movie shifts to that A range (which it seems barely any movie makes it to nowadays).
The reason for this is no doubt the Norwegian/Swedish cast and Erik Skjoldbjærg direction in the ethereal landscape of Norway. The fact of the matter is, there is rarely a ethereal scene. Most shots are focused on the characters or are limited to a space in which the character may run off to. Skjoldbjærg somehow manages to find the grime and darkness of Norway (which, for those of you who have been there may agree, is one heck of a feat; as houses are brightly painted (as are buildings in the cities), trees lush and green, rolling hills with hues of yellow and green so rich). Not to mention the fact that this is Northern Norway, one of the "Lands of the Midnight Sun". Swedish actor, Stellan Skarsgård who is currently doing quite well in Hollywood, is fantastic. His spiral downward is as rough on him as it is on the viewer.
For language buffs, like myself, Norwegian and Swedish are spoken throughout the movie. In the world of linguistics, it seems that is is a well known fact that Norwegians understand Swedish much better than Swedes understand Norwegian. There is a scene where the detective, who is from Sweden, speaks to a Norwegian in Swedish and the man complains he hasn't a clue what he is saying. An interesting twist of this "well-known fact".
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