- by Jerry Rice
[Monday, October 21st, 2002]

Christopher Nolan seems to have some time issues.

They first came with "Memento," last year's brilliant backwards-running mystery about a revenge-seeking amnesiac widower that earned Nolan an Oscar nomination for best screenplay.

And now, "Insomnia" (available on home video and DVD), a crime caper that stars three Oscar winners: Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.

"With these two films, time was very important in terms of conveying the experience of the characters," Nolan says.

"In the case of 'Memento,' where you're dealing with memory, obviously time plays a big part. In the case of 'Insomnia,' when you're dealing with mounting tension and the mounting exhaustion of a character, time, the ticking clock underneath events, obviously becomes very important.

"Insomnia" stars Pacino as a troubled Los Angeles detective who hunts the killer of a teenage girl in a remote northern Alaska town a barren but picturesque place where people only come to escape something. In his pursuit, Pacino's sleep-deprived cop is hampered by the 24-hour summer daylight near the Arctic Circle that constantly wears on him and affects his ability to think clearly.

Besides the murder investigation, Pacino and his partner (Martin Donovan) have taken up the case to get a respite from an Internal Affairs investigation of their actions in Los Angeles.

Released in theaters Memorial Day weekend, the movie is based on the 1997 Norwegian film directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg and starring Stellan Skarsgard ("Good Will Hunting") in the Pacino role.

"They were different challenges, really," says the 32-year-old Nolan of 'Memento' and 'Insomnia.' "With every film that I take on, I'm looking for something that challenges me one way or another."

For "Insomnia," the biggest difficulty was tackling something that was heavily character driven.

"You had a lot of different moral layers to it," Nolan says. "And really the challenge of trying to convey one character's experience, to draw the audience through the maze of the narrative with that character all of which was done on a rather larger scale than 'Memento' and in a rather more extreme location."

Nolan's work on 'Insomnia,' much like 'Memento' before it has received plenty of critical praise and even some awards talk. A Variety article in June touted 'Insomnia' as an early Oscar favorite in the best picture derby.

Nolan, however, doesn't get too excited about that.

"You don't make films for awards. That's not really the point," he says. "It's not something I worry about that much."

What is on Nolan's mind is his next project—he's writing a script about the reclusive Howard Hughes—and that time element that keeps ticking through both of his signature films.

"I don't know why particularly I'm drawn to things like that," he says. "Maybe because the process of making a film is the process of collapsing different periods of time into a two-hour format. It's a very interesting thing, so I quite like projects that embrace that."

THE DETAILS
What: 'Insomnia'
MPAA rating: R for language, some violence and brief nudity
Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
DVD extras: Commentaries by director Christopher Nolan, actress Hilary Swank, and the movie's cinematographer, editor, production designer and screenwriter.
Why the movie is a must-have: "I certainly strive to make films that benefit from multiple viewings," Nolan says. "I find different things in the film when I watch it again."
Cost: $26.98 list price for DVD
Distributor: Warner Home Video

[Read Linda's Moviepie reviews of Insomnia and Memento.]