Insomnia (2002) – 3/5
Remake of the Norwegian Insomnia (1997).
A pretty good movie, but seems to fall short in convincing and communicating the complete exhaustion of the main character. I think this falls on Pacino.
Certainly some imagery w/ the constanct sunlight (“There are two kinds of people in Alaska: those who were born here and those who come here to escape something.”) – you can’t hide from it. It’s haunting and relentless. Like the truth.
The cinematography was good – constantly gloomy, gray, dank, damp, dull, etc. Every day is the same, they bleed into each other – one big day.
SPOILERS:
I have a hard time believing the main characters innocence in a sense. He’s the ‘great detective’, but pretty quickly switches the guns to hide his accident. That, to me, says he’s a ‘bad guy’ from the get-go.
“It’s all about small stuff. You know, small lies, small mistakes. People give themselves away, same in misdemeanors as they do on murder cases. It’s just human nature.” He gave himself away. It makes it hard to be sympathetic.
He somewhat redeems himself in the end w/ Det. Burr. “A good cop can’t sleep b/c he’s missing a piece of the puzzle. And a bad cop can’t sleep b/c his conscience won’t let him.” He sleeps at the end.
He confesses everything to the hotel lady – she’s able to sleep.