Insomnia

Two city cops arrive to help the locals investigate a murder. Jonas (Skarsgård) and partner Erik (Ousdal) are unimpressed by the wastes of northern Norway - land of the midnight sun - and the killer has covered his tracks all too well: the only clue is the victim's school satchel. Jonas uses the bag to lure his man back to the crime scene. As the fog rolls in off the Arctic Ocean, the trap is sprung. In the confusion, Jonas shoots his partner dead, but ducks the blame. Can he solve one murder, salve his conscience, and save himself? The first feature by Erik Skjoldbjærg (a graduate of our National Film and TV School) may be lacking in the plot department, but it wrings some ingenious twists from the formula. The light in this 'film blanc' assumes a toxic quality, insistent and piercing as the truth - at least in Jonas's exhausted eyes. A superbly controlled actor, Skarsgård shows us an incisive mind shutting out humanity to fall into perilous complicity with his prey. A taut and distinctive example of genre film-making.