I’m willing to watch just about any film Forest Whitaker is in. My major selling point when reading the synopsis of A Little Trip To Heaven was his role as the male lead more than the plot. I generally like his films, even when they aren’t elevated to my highly recommended list. A Little Trip To Heaven falls into that category. It is a decent film that I can mildly recommend, but nothing spectacular.
A Little Trip To Heaven suggests that the events are taking place in the United States (North Hastings, Minnesota), but the majority of the film was actually shot in Iceland. The film was directed by Icelander Baltasar Kormakur who wrote the story along with Edward Martin Weinman. The soundtrack for the film is another product of Iceland, composed and presented by Mugison, an Icelandic composer. The Cinematography was done by more home-grown talent in Ottar Guonason. The cast was comprised of Americans Forest Whitaker, Julie Stiles and Jeremy Renner.
A Little Trip To Heaven begins with some confusing scenes that keep the audience guessing. There are several accident scenes that do not appear to be connected. The audience is forced to catch up with the puzzle (and connection) as insurance investigator Holt (Whitaker) starts piecing together elements from one of the crashes that the audience witnesses. Because we know something Holt doesn’t, the audience is slightly ahead of the game and can understand the pieces of the puzzle as Holt begins putting them together. The victim of the crash we witness has left a million dollar policy to his sister and Whitaker want to make sure that foul play is not involved. His instincts seem to indicate a problem.
Holt ends up interviewing the payee on the policy, Isold McBride (Julie Stiles) and is surprised to hear that she was not even expecting her brother to visit. Her husband Fred (Jeremy Renner) seems intense and troubled by Holt’s incessant questioning and unannounced visits to the house. Holt intentionally gives people the impression that he is a police investigator to attempt to get information more freely. However, he also pretends to be other people in order to track down the information he is trying to find. When he obtains enough evidence to prove his theory correct, he uses the information to bluff Isold to settle for a small settlement, creating a devastating sequence of events.
A Little Trip To Heaven takes a strange look at the insurance industry, from the commercial advertisements to fraud schemes. Focusing more on the investigative aspect of the industry and even touches on tricks the industry uses to avoid paying out. The industry is exposed as a bottom line business, but is given faces that make the story connect more. The plot is interesting and somewhat straight forward, but the lack of action gives the film a subdued feeling that can easily lull you to sleep. The characters were good enough, but the pacing hurt the film. It also appeared to be produced on a limited budget. The story gives a somewhat happy ending, but doesn’t allow the characters to become too cliché in the process. The dark quality of the film also sucked life out of the story, even though it appeared to be an attempt to set a brooding mood.
A Little Trip To Heaven has a dark mood with a chilly cold that seems to be part of the story. Artistically it is interesting, but the darkness combined with the slow pacing and quiet dialogue really has a negative effect on the film. The story is not very complex, but does have some interesting elements to it. The acting was excellent and the Icelandic scenery added a nice (freezing) background that felt like it could actually be Minnesota. I wanted to like this film more than I did, but it was sluggish. I would mildly recommend A Little Trip To Heaven for a rainy day. 6.5/10.
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