Can't sleep? Anyone else struggling with insomnia?

I suppose the movie 👎 👎 👎
was alright to me.

Watched it yesterday. The plot was predictable as hell. I’ll give Pacina credit, though; he played that internal conflict brilliantly. That tension—that struggle between good and evil, selling your soul just to find yourself again—is really the only thing saving this movie. But you can't carry a two-hour script on the back of one character alone. Everything else felt incredibly thin.
The scenery was stunning, though. Great concept and an awesome setting, but the execution? Total letdown...
rating: 3

Excellent
8/10

Guys, seriously, can we get on the same page? Half of you are swearing this thing is a total disaster, while the other half is calling it a masterpiece. 🙄

But honestly, if everyone keeps insisting it’s awful, doesn't that just make me want to go see it even more? 😁

Hats off to Al Pacino, and of course, to her highness, Alaska...

The movie holds its own for a while, but then it hits that final half hour where everything goes downhill—it ends on such a cliché, frankly stupid note that it completely ruined the few good parts for me...

Insomnia

Thriller. Police drama. Crime. A psycho killer. Alaska and polar day. Insomnia!
Al Pacino is at the top of his game here. Honestly? Better than the movie itself. It’s a killer thriller that hits all the right notes, but the plot, logic, and tension put it way above your average genre flick.
It really breaks the mold.

It starts with an impossible setup. An experienced, seasoned cop finds everything spiraling out of control. There's no easy way out. His whole existence is on the line, but not in the way you'd expect from a typical crime story.
He's stuck in a total lose-lose situation. No matter what he does, he's already lost.

The way they used Alaska and polar day was brilliant. They leaned into those specific vibes to make sure this didn't feel like just another cookie-cutter movie.

Even if the genre usually keeps movies like this from being "classics"—since they often lean into being unrealistic, shallow, or just mindless entertainment without much real-world weight—this one still stands out.

Anthony Kim18 said:Little one

Not a bad flick. Though—honestly?—it’s probably overrated by both critics and the general public. It’s really a movie about that specific Southern Italian Mediterranean mindset—super authentic vibe and local humor.
At its core, it’s a coming-of-age story, a puberty story.
The whole war and fascism thing? That’s just background noise. It matters to the plot about as much as politics matters to a teenager.
It’s slightly critical of that Southern mentality, which, let's face it, tends to suck up to whoever is in power at the time.
Kinda like how things go in a small town in the Midwest.

The whole thing is crafted exactly how it should be. Watching it feels totally believable because it captures that exact way our grandparents tell stories about their childhood—you know, those hazy memories. Plus, since it's based on a book—an old man's reminiscence—that's where that feeling comes from.
They idealize themselves, obviously, clearly separating the "important" stuff from the fluff, and splitting characters into good vs. evil, essential vs. irrelevant.
Besides the kid, the main character sees this ideal woman—the kind of person an old man would actually describe. To him, she’s a goddess among women, and honestly, a goddess among people too... even if she is a martyr.
The entire movie plays out through the lens of a teenager, yet it's filtered through an old man's memory. All the "bad" people are portrayed as caricatures—transparently amoral and hypocritical, including his own parents, who seem totally irrational. Only two people make any sense: himself and his object of desire, Malena.
Everything about her is idealized—from her hair and figure to her face, her walk, her charm, and her smile. It feels like the whole world revolved around her—at least to her admirer, the old man, looking back on the most intense
period of his life.
The movie leans pretty hard into some crude humor in certain parts, which reminds me a bit of Wounds.

Definitely give it a watch if you get the chance—especially if you’re into local humor, psychology, teen angst, Italy, or just plain old romance.

You totally missed the mark on this thread 🤣

brightcobra91 said:you totally blew up this thread 🤣

Man, you really had to jump in during those 10 seconds before I could even hit edit? 😬

Anthony Kim18 said:damn, you really had to jump in during those 10 seconds before I could even hit edit, huh? 😬

what can you 😁