![]() This kind of meta reflection on film, however, never detracts from the basic joy of watching, and more than any other contemporary filmmaker (save for, perhaps, James Cameron), Nolan understands that for all its technical brilliance, a film still needs to put asses in seats. He is particular (pedantic, really) about sound and aspect ratio and the technicalities of watching a movie. ![]() He extols the virtues of cinema as a theater-going experience. It makes sense that Nolan wants his viewers to engage so closely with the medium. We ask ourselves, “how did he do it?” And more importantly: we rewatch. His movies then become puzzles that invite the viewer to participate in the artform. It accomplishes something seemingly impossible, something we want to try and figure out. If Roger Ebert’s definition of cinema is a machine that generates empathy, Nolan’s take seems to be more formalistic. Editing, cinematography, sound-these techniques capture less an absolute time than a time relative to the viewer. And so, time, depicted on screen, becomes itself a window into something else: cinema. He wants to manipulate how a viewer experiences time, which tends to be the goal not just of his own movies, but rather the enterprise of his medium. But Nolan is interested in time less as a narrative device and more as an impressionistic tool. Of course, time is the basic engine of suspense give a hero a deadline (a bomb, a military evacuation, a dying Earth, an answer hidden in memory), and we have drama. I don't recall hearing about this film when it was released but I'm glad I found it now.At the risk of obscene reductionism-but in the interest of quickly categorizing his diverse filmography-we might say this: Every Christopher Nolan movie is about Time. Meanwhile, the ever-present Alaskan summer sun is driving Dormer crazy to the point that he isn't sure of anything himself. While Ellie Burr follows up on this shooting, Dormer switches his focus on the eerie pulp fiction writer Walter Finch (Robin Williams). ![]() She'd attended a seminar he conducted at one time and had studied many of his cases.ĭormer cuts right to the quick upon arriving in Nightmute and goes after the dead girl's abusive boyfriend but in the mix, he shoots his partner, Hap. The eager young local detective, Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank) is in awe of tough, on-target Dormer. ![]() cop Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and his younger parter Hap (Martin Donovan), both of whom are under investigation by the LAPD Internal Affairs. The local police need help which arrives in the form of seasoned L.A. Nightmute, Alaska has a big murder case: Teenage girl found scrubbed clean in a dump pile. Because it never gets dark in Alaska at this time of year, Dormer (a play off the Spanish word "dormir," which means "to sleep") is unable to fall asleep, light always streaming into his hotel room watching him slowly unravel is a treat. The acting is uniformly excellent, especially Pacino's performance as a cop on the edge and Williams as a soft-spoken, low-rent crime novelist. Director Nolan, who stunned audiences with 2001's inventive MEMENTO, here crafts an atmospheric psychological thriller that is bathed in whites and grays. It isn't long before Dormer finds the murderer-writer Walter Finch, played with subtle nuances by Robin Williams-but Finch knows a secret that could bring Dormer down. Local cop Ellie Burr is excited to work with her hero, Dormer-until she starts uncovering some questionable situations. His younger partner, Hap (Martin Donovan), has a family to support and is willing to turn state's evidence to protect them. The experienced, weathered Will Dormer (Al Pacino) has nothing in life except for the force. The Los Angeles Police Department sends two of its cops-both under investigation by Internal Affairs-to try to solve the crime in Christopher Nolan's film based on Erik Skjoldbjćrg's 1997 Norwegian film starring Stellan Skarsgĺrd. In a remote Alaskan town called Nightmute, the murder of a teenage girl has shocked the tight-knit community.
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