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Our beautiful little piece of Heaven: Costa Rica dentalimplantcr.com | we can recreate a little bit of heaven brianweiss.com | Little Rock AR Dental Care - Little Rock Dentist - Little Rock Dentistry littlerockdental.com |
A Little Trip to Heaven is an Icelandic/United States drama and thriller film from 2005, directed by Icelandic director of The Sea, Baltasar Kormákur. The film is set in the U.S. but almost entirely shot in Iceland. Icelandic musician Mugison composed and played the music, except the song A Little Trip to Heaven which is originally by Tom Waits, though performed by Mugison in the movie. [edit] Storyline
Forest Whitaker plays an insurance adjuster who discovers what may possibly be a couple engaged in identity theft, murder, and life insurance scams. Why is God in Heaven and The Devil underneath the Ground?” is a question posed by A Little Trip to Heaven, a small scale, noirish mix of drama and thriller set in early 1980s Minnesota. “Because it is easier to just to lay down than to it is to fly” is the answer. The film opens with three unusually staged vehicular crashes, which couldn’t be further from say Michael Bay or Johnathon Mostow style mayhem. These accidents are filmed with stark beauty and the weight of crunching metal and glass. Arriving on the scene of one of these accidents, involving a city bus, is insurance investigator Holt (Forrest Whitaker). He gives a speech to the passengers, some of whom may have climbed on after the accident looking to get in on a possible lawsuit against the city. With the speech Holt plays both good cop and bad cop, sounding more like a Mamet style grift, than an insurance adjustors dry duty. Nearly all the passengers shuffle off the bus because of it. His boss (Peter Coyote) quickly drops an assignment to investigate the death of a petty scam-artist in remote and crumbling North Hastings, Minnesota. It seems that Kelvin Anderson died after ramming his tan coloured Malibu into a tunnel wall and his body was burned to a crisp . The local police are convinced it is an open and shut case, as Kelvin’s drivers licence is found, the plates on the car match, and on the other side of the tunnel lives his sister Isold. Holt is of course immediately suspicious because the charred body is conveniently unidentifiable and Isold (Julie Stiles), the beneficiary of the $1 Million dollar policy, is skittish, nervous and wasn’t even suspecting her brothers visit. Then there is Isold’s husband Fred who is ominously cheerful and nearly all of his body-language is vaguely threatening. This guy has wife-beater written all over him. Holt’s investigation digs up a number of dirty little secrets, as he attempts to get to the bottom of the things. At the same time, he begins to sympathize with the plight of crushing poverty, which defines the lives of Isold, Fred and her 6 year-old son. Icelandic Director Baltasar Kormákur gives us a Minnesota that is much, much different than say the similarly set neo-noir, Fargo. A Little Trip To Heaven is stylized, decaying, alienating, and lacking almost completely in that down home cheery warmth that characterized the Coen Brother’s masterpiece. The look of the film is all driving rain, wet, slushy snow, barren landscapes of rusty power-lines, spongy permafrost and broken down buildings. It is filmed mainly at night or in grey, desaturated daylight. There is a delightfully odd, twangy soundtrack, which plays counterpoint to the otherworldly feel of the rest of the film. The film wants to re-define the modern noir structure, and it is partly successful at that. It jettisons the Femme Fatale, and recasts the role as a vulnerable, damaged, perpetually on-edge woman who is never in control. Our hard boiled investigator is anything but that. Forrest Whitaker essays a stand-offish and awkward man who is sharp and competent but is beginning to get a distaste for the nature of his work. He is crying out for scarred Isold and her lot in life, but still has his job to do. [edit] Cast[edit] External links | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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