{"id":7711,"date":"2014-07-25T06:52:41","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T13:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=7711"},"modified":"2022-01-01T14:42:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-01T22:42:39","slug":"review-insomnia-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2014\/07\/review-insomnia-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Insomnia Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Insomnia<\/em><\/strong> is a well made thriller with a standout performance from Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd who, to this point, was not very well known to American audiences. Writer\/Director Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg does a good job with the psychological elements in combination with his take on film noir making this a film well worth watching.<\/p>\n

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Insomnia<\/span>
\n(1997)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Genre(s): <\/strong>Drama, Crime
\nCriterion Collection | NR \u2013 97 min. \u2013 $39.95 | July 22, 2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n <\/b>MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Nikolaj Frobenius & Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/strong>Stellan Skarsgard, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Gisken Armand, Bjorn FlobergDISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Interview, 2 Short Films, Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1Audio: <\/strong>Norwegian\/Swedish (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.85
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>36.8 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Insomnia<\/em><\/strong> is a 1997 Swedish crime-drama that has received a cult following over the years to go along with a 2005 remake directed by Christopher Nolan, which, as a side, is an aberration in his career compared with his other films. Having now seen both, finally getting to this 1997 version, both bring something different to the table, despite having basically the same plot, though I\u2019m leaning toward the original, a darker take and features an incredible performance from Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd giving a bit more nuanced performance compared that to Al Pacino.<\/p>\n

The story follows Swedish detectives Jonas Engstrom (STELLAN SKARSG\u00c5RD) and Erik Vik (SVERRE ANKER OUSDAL) who are called to a remote Norwegian town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl at the hands of a \u201cperfectionist\u201d killer \u2013 described in an almost complimentary fashion by Engstrom. When they use the media to lure the killer out, a chase ensues, as the fog settles in, leading to Engstrom accidentally killing Vik which is one of the first deviations the 2005 remake took; this one has Engstrom lying to cover up that he had a gun in a country that doesn\u2019t even allow its own police to carry while the remake called into question whether it was an accident as the partner was set to testify against him in a corruption case.<\/p>\n

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The killing leads Engstrom having trouble sleeping in a place where the sun never goes down (aka \u201cThe Land of the Midnight Sun\u201d as it\u2019s called in the film) and also seeing visions of his deceased partner. Meanwhile, his problems mount when, after illegally searching the home of a potential suspect Jon Holt (BJORN FLOBERG), receives a call where each has a hold on the other as the suspect saw Engstrom kill his partner while Engstrom knows Holt killed the girl. There is some game ship played it becomes clear Engstrom sees something of himself in Holt.<\/p>\n

Insomnia<\/em><\/strong> is a well made almost hypnotic noir thriller featuring an incredible performance from Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd and in conjunction with Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg screenplay and direction (his feature-length debut), who does a good job conveying Engstrom\u2019s psychological degradation. If you\u2019re in my shoes having seen the 2005 Christopher Nolan remake before this original, there\u2019s no doubt you\u2019ll get something out of this version as well.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The 2-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD) comes housed in the typical thick Criterion Collection case. Inside is a 20-page essay booklet.<\/p>\n

Interview (20:57; HD)<\/strong><\/span> \u2013 Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg and Stellan Skarsgard sit down for a new interview, with one another, discussing the making of Insomnia<\/em><\/strong> and its various aspects from script, character and the film noir genre.<\/p>\n

Also included are Skjoldj\u00e6rg\u2019s two short films, Near Winter<\/em> (1993) (34:06; HD)<\/strong><\/span> and Close to Home<\/em> (1994) (30:35; HD)<\/strong><\/span> and the film\u2019s Theatrical Trailer (1:14; HD)<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 5.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Criterion Collection releases Insomnia<\/em> <\/strong>onto Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and a newly minted 1080p high-definition transfer (4K restoration) from the original 35mm camera negative. In a word, this transfer is impressive with no major flaws like artifacting, pixilation, dust marks or scratches which have all been cleaned up leaving behind sharp detail levels and the right colors (often bleached out in keeping with Engstrom\u2019s frame of mind). It\u2019s another top notch job done by Criterion.<\/p>\n

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AUDIO \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Not to be outdone, the soundtrack also gets an upgrade to DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track in Norwegian and Swedish with English subtitles automatically selected on when playing the movie. This never was quite an action-packed movie relegating gunplay and explosions for tense and even creepy atmosphere. Dialogue sounds clear throughout and the score by Geir Jenssen (in his feature debut) comes across really nicely.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 4.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Insomnia<\/em><\/strong> is a well made thriller with a standout performance from Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd who, to this point, was not very well known to American audiences. Writer\/Director Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg does a good job with the psychological elements in combination with his take on film noir making this a film well worth watching even if you\u2019ve already seen Nolan\u2019s 2005 remake.<\/p>\n

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Published: <\/strong>07\/25\/2014<\/p>\n

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Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers<\/strong>.
\nThese are only here to give an idea of the movie\u2019s video quality and may not be truly representative of it.<\/p>\n

\"insomnia00.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia01.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia02.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia03.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia04.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia05.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia06.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia07.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia08.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia09.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia10.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia11.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia12.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia13.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia14.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia15.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia16.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia17.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia18.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia19.png\"<\/a>\"insomnia20.png\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Insomnia is a well made thriller with a standout performance from Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd who, to this point, was not very well known to American audiences. Writer\/Director Erik Skjoldj\u00e6rg does a good job with the psychological elements in combination with his take on film noir making this a film well worth watching.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,970],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","category-quick-hit-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7711"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27881,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7711\/revisions\/27881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}