Color, 1997, 97 mins.

Directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg

Starring Stellan Skarsgård, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Bjørn Floberg, Gisken Armand, Maria Bonnevie, Thor Michael Aamodt, Bjørn Moan / Written by Nikolaj Frobenius & Erik Skjoldbjærg / Music by Biosphere / Cinematography by Erling Thurmann-Andersen

Format: DVD - Criterion (MSRP $29.95)


"No rest for the wicked," proclaims the trailer for Insomnia, an off-kilter Scandanavian import best described as a mannered cross between Smilla's Sense of Snow and Bad Lieutenant (and yes, it's just as odd as that sounds). Primarily a showcase for the excellent Stellan Skarsgård, who went on to recognition in Breaking the Waves, Good Will Hunting, and Ronin, to name a few, the film marks an auspicious debut for short film helmer Skjoldbjærg, who displays a convincing mastery of atmosphere and psychological storytelling that set this a few notches above the standard European thriller. While not quite as groundbreaking and stunning as Criterion's gushing liner notes would have you believe, Insomnia is nevertheless an interesting, offbeat, and occasionally gripping little policier infected with a jaded '90s antihero sensibility.

Jonas Engström (Skarsgård), a Swedish supercop, travels to a remote town in Norway beyond the Arctic Circle where, during the height of summer, the sun never sets. While he investigates the brutal and perplexing murder of a young girl, Tanja, he finds his reason and morality slipping away as he attempts to combat his own baser instincts. His internal decay is reflected by his inability to sleep during the constant flood of sunlight, which he combats with masks, taped blankets over windows, etc., but to no avail. After a bewildering pursuit in which a fellow officer is killed, possibly at Jonas' hands, Jonas attempts to remove any hint of responsibility by tampering with evidence and even lying to shift any possible blame away from himself. Jonas begins to believe that Erik Vik, an older man who had befriended Tanja, may be responsible for the death, but Jonas begins to question under what conditions the murder may have actually occurred and exactly how much moral judgment he can pass himself.

While the film contains its share of squeamish moments, particularly an incident involving Jonas and a German Shepherd, Insomnia is far more concerned with terrors of the psyche than with bloody slayings or gun battles. Overall this approach works quite effectively, with the spare and harshly lit cinematography (reminiscent at times of Argento's Tenebrae) giving the proceedings an austere, haunting presence to such an extent that the viewer will most likely imagine more is going on than there really is. The almost complete absence of music, aside from some ambient techno thumpings here and there, adds to the strange irrationality of the film, which seems to operate according to its own secret rhythms and structure. As usual, Skarsgård delivers an excellent performance, managing to keep his character from being utterly repulsive by the end even when he finds himself compelled to make sleazy passes at young female witnesses.

Criterion's long-delayed DVD is one of their best-looking efforts to date, possibly even outdoing such ravishing transfers as Picnic at Hanging Rock thanks to their welcome switch over to anamorphic transfers (can we say Brian De Palma's Sisters?). The picture quality in many ways resembles New Line's DVD of Crash, filled with those icy, metallic layers of imagery that were just tailor-made for DVD and have to be a technician's nightmare to transfer. The audio is less spectacular, due to the film's relatively static sound mix with only brief tangential effects flying off to the external speakers, but gets the job done just fine. The optional English subtitles are presented on the image itself, and the original Norwegian trailer and TV spot, which make the film look much more high voltage than it really is, are included.


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