Stuart Heritage recaps Christopher Nolan's taut cop thriller, which brought a sinister performance out of Robin Williams

Philip French: An exceptional picture from one of the most gifted British filmmakers to emerge in the past decade

Insomnia stars Al Pacino as a cop who investigates a murder in Alaska, but both lack of sleep and Internal Affairs catch up with him. An arresting film, says Joe Queenan

Peter Bradshaw: Christopher Nolan, the British-born director of those compulsive, time-bending dramas Following and Memento, has straightened out the narrative kinks to give us a magnificent blanc-noir thriller

His first film (Following) was a no-budget thriller shot on the streets of London with his mates. His second (Memento) bagged him rave reviews and an Oscar nomination. On the eve of his third, biggest picture, Insomnia, writer-director Chris Nolan took to the stage of the NFT to look back over a brief and glittering career

Dir: Christopher Nolan
Playing: Sunday August 25, 8pm, UGC

Plus: Matt Dillon signs up Depardieu and Skarsgard for directing debut; Hilary Swank helps Al Pacino with Insomnia; Jodie Foster weighs up western

Al Pacino is to star in a remake of Insomnia, a Norwegian thriller about a man who is blackmailed after he commits a murder, which will be directed by Christopher Nolan