Insomnia

I shall say right up front that I readily dislike remakes. If the film was good the first time, what possible reason, beyond monetary, gain can you have for remaking it? The list of poor remakes is endless, although as one of my favourite films of all time, I will admit to a massive contradiction with His Girl Friday.
So I didn’t see the Al Pacino remake of Insomnia in the cinema since I’d loved the Norwegian original so much since I saw it in the cinema years ago. Is it my fault that US audiences just won’t go to see subtitled films?
All of which begs the question as to why I bought the DVD of the remake in a sale. Well it was in the sale certainly, but I suppose I do admire Christopher Nolan, and I knew that Robin Williams was finally not playing one of those dreadful schmaltzy characters that he’s tended to do on autopilot of late. Then there was the fact that it was set in Alaska (although largely filmed in British Columbia), and I was hooked.
It’s a while since I saw the original, but it soon came back to me, and I’ll admit that Nolan’s done a good job. It’s not quite as cold as the original (I’m not talking about the weather, since the long daylight hours mean the film’s set in summer), and the rougher realistic edges have been smoothed off a little, but at least they haven’t introduced a romance that they might easily have done had a less able director been involved.
By the end of the film you can really believe that Al Pacino’s been awake for six days straight, but I suppose that he always looks like he’s been up a minimum of 48 hours anyway.
As an aside at this point, I suppose I should remind readers of the woeful Touch The Truck remake that Channel Four have been broadcasting – Shattered. From all accounts, it’s been wildly successful in curing insomnia amongst viewers.
But finally back to Insomnia. The one thing I’d say about the film that doesn’t work with Pacino is his constant battle with light in his hotel bedroom. Stellan Skarsgaard in the original seemed a bit more diffident, and didn’t strike you as a character who’d go down to reception to either demand a new room, or that his curtains be fixed. Pacino is throwing his weight around from the outset, so you simply can’t believe that he’d be piling cushions in front of the blinds and taping them up at the sides. He’s have stormed off shouting and swearing until the management gave him a new room!