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Mathew Scott

Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan

Director: Christopher Nolan

Category: IIB

Al Pacino's hangdog looks are ideal for characters living life on the edge. He can pull off that dishevelled, man-on-the-brink demeanour better than anyone. It has done him great service over the years and it is debatable whether it has ever been put to better use than in Insomnia.

This is the story of a man who can't sleep who is sent to a place where it never really gets dark - a nightmare scenario if ever there was one.

A remake of a 1997 Norwegian thriller, in the hands of director Christopher Nolan (who made Memento) it is gripping from the outset and could leave you with a few restless nights of your own.

Pacino is Detective Will Dormer, an LA legend sent to Nightmute, Alaska, to assist in a murder investigation. And there's no prizes for guessing what Nightmute is like.

Dormer lives his life on the edge of exhaustion; haunted by the fact he can never really sleep and by secret guilts which have almost brought his career undone. The only thing he really has going for him is his razor-sharp mind. Along for the ride are his partner Hap (the fresh-faced Martin Donovan) and the town's rookie cop Ellie (Hilary Swank). A girl has been butchered and the only real thing they have to go on is a rumour that she had a secret lover.

Dormer still manages to come up with a plan that will lure the killer into police hands but, at the last moment, it all goes tragically wrong. He then has another secret to cover up and the murder suspect, Walter Finch (Robin Williams), who has seen it all, suddenly has all the power. Dormer must solve the crime but save himself at the same time.

Nolan showed his class with Memento and here he builds on his reputation as one of the most exciting directors around. His characters inhabit a dark, creepy world and he keeps you on the edge of your seat for much of the 118 minutes. There are small lapses but the weight of Pacino's performance covers over any cracks in the script.

Williams, meanwhile, has always been funny in a disturbing way and when you take the humour away, he becomes just odd. And that works here too.

This is a film about how disappointments and mistakes can follow you around and eventually drag you down. And it is one of the year's best so far.



Insomnia