A Little Trip to Heaven

Colour, 35 mm
Iceland, 2005, 89 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Baltasar Kormákur’s previous films – the black comedy 101 Reykjavik and the drama The Sea – were set in his native Iceland and described intense relationships within the family. For his latest film Kormákur set off for the United States with a story of criminal intrigue, filmed in English with American actors. This psychological drama about greed and guilt has a chillingly depressive ambience which looks towards the modern form of film noir in the style of Fargo (1996) by the Coen brothers. The hero of the story is insurance investigator Holt who travels to a God-forsaken small town somewhere in northern Minnesota to look into the violent death of a man whose life insurance policy would secure a million for his family. Isold, the deceased’s sister, and her husband Fred, certainly do not appear blameless: their past hides all sorts of surprises – and what about the present?

About the director

Baltasar Kormákur (b. 1966, Reykjavik) during the 1990s earned a reputation as a respected Icelandic stage actor and director. He became internationally known for his roles in films by his compatriot, director Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, Devil’s Island (Djoflaeyjan, 1996) and Angels of the Universe (Englar alheimsins, 1999). As a director, screenwriter and producer he debuted with an adaptation of the novel by Hallgrímur Helgason 101 Reykjavik (2000), which won him the Young Jury Prize at the Locarno IFF, the FIPRESCI prize at the IFF in Thessaloniki and the New Discovery Award (ex aequo) at the Toronto IFF. He was a member of the Jury at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 2003, where his drama The Sea (Hafíd, 2002), which he also wrote, directed and produced, was screened in the Horizons section. The film won the FIPRESCI prize at the Istanbul IFF and five Icelandic Edda awards.