Christopher Nolan’s most underrated film is Insomnia, according to the director

For many years, Christopher Nolan has been among the most controversial, praised, and hotly debated directors in Hollywood. He is the director with the most films on the IMDb Top 250 listHe has navigated the industry by tackling an impressive mix of original projects and intellectual property. One of his biggest films arguably changed the Oscars foreverAnd every new movie of his feels like a fitting event. (You’ve probably seen the noise around you He recently announced an adaptation of “The Odyssey” for next year.) His filmography and controversy have been combed over as a place where cinephiles congregate, and members of his ardent, almost cult-like fanbase are willing to go to bat for any of his features.

Although I don’t know if Nolan himself has thought about what his best film is, the director has scored what he believes is his most successful film. Undervalued The film is one that provides a fascinating glimpse into the way he views his work.

in Tom Schon’s 2020 book Nolan Differences: Christopher Nolan’s Movies, Mysteries, and Wonders, Shone has been able to spend a significant amount of time with the director over many years to talk in-depth about each of his films, and Nolan has singled out one of his earliest feature films as a project that may be the most unfairly dismissed film in its entirety. Body of work.

“I think of all my films, ‘Insomnia’ is probably the most underrated,” Nolan says in The Nolan Variations. He also offers a possible reason why audiences don’t engage with it on the same level as his other films, and a reason that, for him, this couldn’t be further from the truth:

“People will say things like, ‘Oh, this isn’t as interesting or as personal as Memento,’ but there’s a reason for that. It’s from a script that someone else wrote. It’s a remake of another movie. The truth is, it’s one of my most personal movies in terms of what it should have been.” I make it (…) of all the films I’ve made, it falls most squarely or comfortably within the genre I was trying to make in. It’s not really challenging the genre, which is what people expect from other films I’ve made, but I think the film holds up Very well, this is not What I’m really saying, but every now and then I meet a director this Actually what movie they’re interested in or what they’re talking about. Yes, very proud of the movie.”

Three years before Nolan described Insomnia as his most underrated film, We at /Film came to the same conclusion and wrote about the reasons why we think this is the case. I encourage you to watch this piece, and if you haven’t rewatched “Insomnia” in a while, give it another look. The film may not turn the crime thriller genre on its head, but it features top-notch work by Oscar winners Al Pacino and Robin Williams in a cat-and-mouse game set in a picturesque setting. If nothing else at all, it will make you appreciate the power of a good night’s sleep.