The third excellent movie from Christopher Nolan

Rating: Null/10 (14 July 2002)

In order to understand just how great Insomnia is, you must first look at his two other films; Following and Memento. Nolan has this unbelievably remarkable way of taking a simple idea and creating a intricate movie about that simple idea.
First, Following is a film about betrayal and treachery. It follows a man who follows people everyday. One day he meets a man he has been following (who happens to be a burglar), this man takes him under his wing and teaches him how to break into houses. They burgle a woman's flat and Bill (the follower) becomes infatuated with this woman by the pictures in her flat. He starts talking to her at a bar owned by her ex-boyfriend (who killed someone with a hammer in her apartment). The whole movie wraps up at the end with an astounding climax that blows your mind away. The best thing about it is this whole tale with all of its twists and turns is only 69 minutes long. So started Nolan's artistically mind numbing film career.
Next, the Independent film that blew away all the audiences in 2000. Memento was based on a story written by Nolan's brother. It is a story of justice and the darkness in every man's soul. This movie starts from the end of the plot and goes backwards to the beginning of the plot. The main character, Leonard Shelby, is searching for the killer of his wife. Sounds simple enough huh? Well it would be if the character did not have a memory fault and cannot remember anything that has happened in the last day. The only thing he remembers day to day is his wife dying. So he must take pictures, get tattoos, and make notes of everything he has learned day from day. He runs into many characters who use him for their own hit lists. This film also has an idea of betrayal like Following. This movie was one of the most grossing independent films to date.
So this brings us to Insomnia. Now this is Nolan's first film to actually have a large budget and some main stream actors. This especially includes Williams who plays the human antagonist in this film. This was quite a role change from his usual comedic performances. Pacino plays a cop who is in the middle of an internal investigation in LA. He is sent to Alaska to solve a run of the mill murder. Yet Nolan takes the non existent darkness of Alaska and the inner guilt of a mistake he makes at the beginning of the film and basically turns Pacino inside out. He continues to solve the case with hardly any sleep. All these elements come to a fantastic conclusion dealing with the redemption of the soul.
All of Nolan's films delve into the characteristics of humanity and helps makes us understand them in a way we might not have thought about. There is a clear distinction of light and dark in all of his movies (this symbolizes good and evil) which unfortunately is not always clear in all movies. This is why i think he is the best director of the past 30 years. His next project will be a biopic of Howard Hughes, the famed pilot and inventor who drowned in his own desolate fear. Jim Carrey is said to have taken this role. I look forward to it and all the other's by this director.