Review: Insomnia 4K UHD
Insomnia (1997)
The original Insomnia is a 1997 Norwegian neo-noir thriller which the later Christopher Nolan film is based on. They follow most of the same plot lines; a police detective investigating a murder in a town located above theArctic Circle, who isn’t exactly a paragon of honesty, accidentely shoots his partner while chasing the killer of a young woman, and subsequently attempts to cover it up, are identical. But the ‘feel’ of the films are very different.
While Nolan’s film is of course, brilliant, starring Al Pacino as the cop with the surprising casting of Robin Williams as the murderer, it’s not as sexually fraught as this original version.
Stellan Skarsgård plays policeman Jonas Engström with a grubby edge, his blonde good looks a convincing cover for his misogynistic attitude to the women he encounters, and his constant sweating revealing his anxiety at being caught for his misdemeanours.
Bjørn Floberg as the murderer Jon Holt is quietly confident, as he saw Engstrom mistakenly shoot his police partner, and threatens him. Engstrom is more interested in saving his own skin than arresting the killer of a woman – or is he?
The whole film is bleak and kind of… unsettlingly yucky. I’d never seen this original version and although I’m familiar with Nolan’s version, the original is far grittier and disquieting, with this 4K UHD release really adding to the atmosphere both in picture quality and sound.
Special Features
New 4K restoration presented with Second Sight Films Director Approved HDR grade with Dolby Vision
Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
New audio commentary with Director Erik Skjoldbjærg and Co-writer Nikolaj Frobenius
Running on Instinct: a new interview with Director Erik Skjoldbjærg
Falling Into It: a new interview with Producer Petter J. Borgli
Private Prisons: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on Insomnia
Erik Skjoldbjærg’s Short Films: Spor, Close to Home and Near Winter
Limited Edition Contents
Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Peter Strain
120-page book with new essays by Jenn Adams, Mitchell Beaupre, Barry Forshaw, Francesco Massaccesi, Priscilla Page and Travis Woods
6 collectors’ art cards
Released on 25th May 2026 and available to pre-order.
Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Second Sight Films via Aim Publicity.
