Christopher Nolan bookended Batman with two very different thrillers, Insomnia and The Prestige

It’s two smaller-scale thriller adaptations for the price of one

By A.A. Dowd, Katie Rife | August 21, 2020 | 12:00pm

Film Features Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan bookended Batman with two very different thrillers, Insomnia and The Prestige

Al Pacino in Insomnia (left); Hugh Jackman in The Prestige (right) Screenshot: Warner Bros. Pictures

Last week on Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discussed Christopher Nolan’s massively popular Dark Knight trilogy. This week, in the third part of our month-long series on Nolan’s filmography, they’re pulling a Memento and dicing up the timeline to discuss the movies the director made directly before and directly after his first trip to Gotham. It’s two smaller-scale thriller adaptations for the price of one: Insomnia, Nolan’s work-for-hire remake of a Norwegian detective thriller, and The Prestige, his twisty take on the Christopher Priest novel about dueling 19th-century magicians.

Because The A.V. Club office is closed for the time being, and everyone on staff is social distancing, we’ve recorded episode remotely. Listen to the podcast above, subscribe on iTunes, and give us a five-star rating to help other listeners find us. Make sure to check out our previous episodes about the films of Christopher Nolan, linked above.