Stylish thriller A Little Trip To Heaven is a slippery beast to get a handle on not so much because of its twisting plot - which is not hard to follow or anticipate if you're a fan of the genre - but because of an unusual mixture of approaches and styles. While it flirts heavily with noir, that most American of genres, and sports a US based cast it bears the unmistakable Nordic influences of its director Baltasar Kormákur. Kormákur creates a world rich in detail but completely adrift in time and space - though set in 80's Minnesota the story could be playing out in virtually any time and place and by refusing to root itself becomes set essentially in no place at all.
After a brilliant opening sequence which I won't spoil the film settles on Abe Holt, an insurance investigator played by the always solid Forest Whitaker, who sports a perplexing (Irish, maybe?) accent. Holt is sent to the scene of a horrific car crash, the body burnt beyond recognition. The car is a twisted wreck but the VIN numbers are intact and there is a charred drivers license in the glove box, both of which point to a known con man, one insured for a million dollars.
The scene is obviously suspicious and Holt dives into his investigation originally intent purely to save his company money but as he digs deeper he finds himself being drawn in emotionally. The insurance policy is payable to Isold (Julia Stiles), the badly scarred sister of the dead con man who lives with her faux-friendly husband and young son Thor - the Scandanavian names further adding to the film's sense of dislocation - on a remote farm. The more Holt investigates the more he becomes convinced that some scam is under way, one that must involve Isold.
Kormákur loads the film with stunning images, the bleached tones and stark natural beauty of the opening sequence setting the tone for what is to come. His version of the American midwest is alien and hostile, vast and unforgiving to us lowly humans, a place where you could easily disappear and be slowly covered by the mud from the constantly falling rain. He bolsters his images with a stellar and varied soundtrack from Iceland's Mugison and strong performances from his entire cast. I, for one, have never understood why Whitaker doesn't work more as he's just always strong and Stiles is surprisingly convincing as the conflicted Isold, proving that she's one young star who has a decent chance of making the transition to more adult roles.
Whitaker is, without a doubt, the lynchpin of the entire film. As with most films of the type A Little Trip to Heaven takes on the personality of it's lead and Whitaker plays him as a highly intelligent, slyly devious man, socially awkward, deeply lonely, and slowly growing tired of the not-so-subtle cruelty of his job. He is, after all, paid to find reasons not to pay out full benefits to tragedy stricken families. Kormákur captures the mood of this man flawlessly, which is both a strength and weakness of the film. A strength because it gives the film a unique perspective and highlights Whitaker's excellent work. A weakness because people tend to want a little crackle in their noir and Holt just is not the crackling type.
Not a perfect film by any stretch, A Little Trip to Heaven is, however, a very good one loaded with obvious talent and style. It gets caught slightly between being a mystery and a character piece and both aspects suffer slightly as a result but Kormákur has such a strength for visuals and such a strong lead actor that this may just prove to be the sort of film that sticks with you well after it reaches its end.