Taglines: Days never end. Nightmares are real. No one is innocent.
Sent from the city to investigate the murder of a teenage girl in a small Alaska town, a police detective (Pacino) accidentally shoots his own partner while trying to apprehend a suspect. Instead of admitting his guilt, the detective is given an unexpected alibi, but this “solution” only multiplies the emotional complexity and guilt over his partner’s death.
He’s also still got a murder to solve, in addition to the blackmail and framing of an innocent bystander being orchestrated by the man they were chasing. There’s also a local detective (Swank) who is conducting her own personal investigation… of his partner’s death. Will it all come crashing down on him?
Insomnia is a 2002 American psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. It tells the story of two Los Angeles homicide detectives investigating a murder in an Alaskan town. A remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, Insomnia was released on May 24, 2002, to critical acclaim and commercial success, grossing $113 million worldwide. To date, this is the only film that Nolan has directed without receiving at least a share of one of the writing credits, even though he wrote the final draft of the script.
Insomnia was filmed over a three month period from April to June, 2001. The opening aerial scene was filmed over the Columbia Glacier near Valdez, Alaska[4] and the float plane approach was over the Portland Canal near Hyder, Alaska and Stewart, British Columbia. The town of Nightmute, Alaska was primarily filmed in / around Squamish, British Columbia, including the hotel/lodge, police station, high school, and the funeral cemetery scene.
The scene where Will Dormer shoots his partner on the rocky beach in the fog was filmed at Clementine Creek in Indian Arm, outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. The village of Umkumuit, where Finch’s apartment is located and where the log chase scene occurs, was filmed on Vancouver Island in Port Alberni, British Columbia. The waterfall road scene where Dormer is on his way to Finch’s lake house and spins his car 180 degrees was shot in front of Bridal Veil Falls on the Richardson Highway near Valdez, Alaska.
The final scene of the movie on the fictional Lake Kgun at Finch’s lake house was filmed on the northwest end of Strohn Lake in Bear Glacier Provincial Park, just outside of Stewart, British Columbia. For this final scene, the film crew constructed Finch’s lake house and dock from scratch and then disassembled and removed it after filming was completed in late June 2001.
Insomnia (2002)
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Maura Tierney, Martin Donovan, Tasha Simms, Paula Shaw, Lorne Cardinal, Crystal Lowe, James Hutson, Lorne Cardinal
Screenplay by: Hillary Seitz
Production Design by: Nathan Crowley
Cinematography by: Wally Pfister
Film Editing by: Dody Dorn
Costume Design by: Tish Monaghan
Set Decoration by: Peter Lando
Art Direction by: Michael Diner
Music by: David Julyan
MPAA Rating: R for language, some violence and brief nudity.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: May 24, 2002
Visits: 214
