 You're a disgraced police detective. A girl has been found murdered. And you've been assigned the case. Whilst chasing a suspect, you get lost in some fog. And when you open fire at someone who you think is the killer, you end up shooting your own partner. Do you confess to the authorities over your tragic mistake? Or are you made of more sinister stuff? Deciding instead to tamper with any evidence that incriminates you, and gradually become more and more tangled in your own dark web of deceit whilst suffering from insomnia. Eric Schollberg's 1997 psychological thriller that paved the way for Scandinavian crime dramas to eventually take over the world. Set in the Norwegian city of Tromsø, inside the Arctic Circle where the midnight sun during the summer months creates permanent daylight, the story follows Chief Inspector Jonas Engström, a hard-nosed Swedish police officer with a shady past that hints at sexual misconduct who has been sent to apprehend the murderer of a teenage girl. After using his tough guy methods to interrogate the victim's friends, Engström eventually comes close to apprehending the killer. However, after he guns down his partner Eric and said killer witnesses it, an unholy alliance is forged between the two men to frame an innocent person for their crimes. The film's plot at first presents itself as a by-the-numbers Nordic noir cop show, with all the standard hallmarks this subsection of the crime genre has now become famous for. Baron yet beautiful scenery, bleak atmospheric cinematography and disturbing psychologically scarred characters. But behind Insomnia's slickly produced starkly lit surface lies something far more compelling that begs repeated viewing, a chilling examination of tortured masculinity. That is revealed to us, scene by scene, thanks to the captivating performance from Skarsgård, who plays a man plagued by his past and yet is unable to change for the good. Someone who is given purpose by his job but lacks it in his personal life, who is seemingly allergic to the never-ending daylight of the story setting that illuminates for us the profound loneliness and sexual inadequacy that he feels in his soul, a pain that he shares with the killer. Although the 2002 remake directed by Christopher Nolan is in some way superior for its overall style, Al Pacino's Will Dorma is a far more sympathetic figure than Skarsgård's Engstrom. Lacking the animal-like ferocity and twisted, calculating viciousness, this original incarnation of the character possesses. That makes Insomnia's hero arguably one of the Scandinavian crime genres most intriguing and memorable of creatures. And proof enough that when it comes to compelling crime drama, always look north if you wish to witness and feel a real chill.