Nick Duguay Absolutely gorgeously shot. The landscape lends a very melancholy atmosphere and the sets and color palette just makes me want to die, it's so beautiful. Probably my favourite part about the film. The story is amazing, it's fairly simple, which works in the film's favour because the real focus is on the mental duress that our main character is going through. A wild roller coaster. I've just got to say it... it's better than Nolan's version.

JoeKulik Erik Skjoldbjearg's Insomnia (1997) is a very innovative and compelling film in the Crime Narrative genre.It is certainly a very suspenseful crime narrative with a unique storyline that is somewhat convoluted, but made quite believable through a well conceived, and well thought out screenplay, very good performances by the whole cast, especially by Stellan Skarsgard in the lead role, and excellent direction.The technical side of the film, the cinematography, the editing, and the lighting is superb, not only making this film visually beautiful, but it is seamlessly interfaced with the storyline to make the whole dramatic impact of the film much more effective, and is very integral with the suspenseful, and even psychological aspect of this crime narrative.Overall, Insomnia (1997) is a film with high entertainment value, but also with a fair amount of artistic merit that makes certain aspects of the film quite thought provoking as well, at least in my opinion.

denis888 This Norwegian original of Insomnia is not better or worse than a highly successful US version with Pacino, Williams and Swank. It is the same story but it just is different. I think, we must try our best to not compare both films and watch them as two separate entities. Here, the filmmakers made a very good job of showing us the utter misery and suffering of sleepless policeman from Sweden. His mood sinks deeper and he is clearly in pain all the time. This is a well-known plot and there is no need in retelling it here, the US version preserved most of it, I just want to add that Norwegian version is very gloomy, bleak, moody, slow and foggy - just as it had to be to create a certain feeling in us This is a very fine work, decent, deep, steady and rather dry, but dryness is Key factor in making the story even more realistic and captivating. So, stop comparing and just watch it

Boba_Fett1138 The Christopher Nolan remake of "Insomnia" surprisingly enough isn't well liked by everybody but generally speaking it is being regarded as one of the best crime-thrillers of recent years. I wonder how many people actually know it's a remake of this Norwegian movie, that was released 5 years earlier. Just like most people, I saw the remake before the original.And the the invertible question which on is the better movie; the original or its remake. In this case I really have to say Christopher Nolan's. It does a better job at capturing the atmosphere and the sense of insomnia, that the main character is suffering from. And no matter how great Stellan Skarsgård is, he of course ain't no Al Pacino! Biggest or most significant difference between the two movie is, is that the remake is a longer movie and for some good reasons. It takes its time with its buildup, which enhances the movie its tension and mystery.But it's of course not fair and perhaps even a bit silly to compare this movie to the remake because it of course got released first and is the original movie, which the superior 2002 got based on. And you could say it's pretty much a scene by scene remake, with only a few additions put into it. But I'll just judge this movie for what it is and pretend like I have never seen the remake.When doing so, you'll have to say that "Insomnia" is one original movie within its genre. It starts off like any other typical genre movie, in which a policeman is flown in to solve a murder case. The story however soon starts to take some twists and it starts to become apparent that this is not going to be an ordinary case, in which the main character is the perfect, righteous hero, who'll solve the case cleanly.The story is definitely the movie its biggest strength. It lets the movie distinct itself from anything else and its were all of the movie its surprises are coming from.But what also helps are its cold, depressing, looking settings, in rural Norway, that set the entire mood and atmosphere for the movie. It adds to the whole mystery of the movie as well, though it isn't really the mystery or the murder that plays the most significant part in the movie. It more relies on its other dramatic developments and its characters, which all makes the movie a surprising and tense one at times.In the end it doesn't really matter whether you have already seen the original or not and it also doesn't really matter that I consider the remake superior to this original. The movie simply remains a more than great and original watch within its genre.8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/