MovieChat Forums > A Little Trip to Heaven (2005) Discussion > Landscape and atmosphere American ??

Landscape and atmosphere American ??


Here's a question for Americans (or other people not from Iceland) who have seen this movie... Did you ever find the landscape "American" ???

I'm from Iceland, and I personally thought the landscape and everything was pretty obviously icelandic. The mountains in the background, the ugly old square houses and even the howl of the wind felt icelandic to me. It was okey, because this film is very 'Noir' and the atmosphere gives you the feeling that it's in a sort of a 'Nowhere-Land'. What did you think?

And do you know where in America it was supposed to take place anyway? North-Hastings? ... And what was that cool funny accent that Whitaker's character had?!

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i am from u.s. but often in iceland, and saw the film here in reykjavik tonight. agree landscape not american - believe it was meant to take place in hastings, minnesota. and there ain't no sea there, nor any huge lake, nor, i suspect dunes. nor would a building likely look like the "clinic" did.
i love the atmosphere -- as film noirish and unique -- but, no, it didn't feel "american." i enjoyed the flick a lot, though. (you would get snow and wind in hastings, minnesota, though.)

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okay, that's what i thought...

but the accent? minnesotan??

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well the accent is obviously irish, a bad one at that, dont ask me why but thaere you have it

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I live near Minnesota and have been there many times. While I haven't seen this movie yet, I have seen scenes from it and it feels VERY Minnesota to me. Certainly not the metopolitan areas, but much of the state is isolated and barren and it IS called the "land of a thousand lakes" for a reason. That kind of cold, snow, and wind we get HERE, let alone in Minnesota. The wind never stops here on the plains. Perhaps if I had been to Iceland I might feel differently, but it is quite believable to me as I said.

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I just saw this movie in Iceland and the landscape was DEFINETLY Iceland. However, I think the feel was sort of part of the movie. That whole "middle of nowhere" thing.

What I found most humorous were all the Icelandic names, Isold? Thor? I have never met Americans with these names.

Loved the movie though, and the fact that the director played "Baddi" in "Devil's Island" made it even better for me.

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Well, it's very hard to find someone named Ísold here in Iceland. It's .. a very uncommon name.

The flogging will continue until morale improves.

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I'm from the U.S. and saw this at Sundance yesterday. Thought that the scenery looked like texas or maybe, since it was cold, the Dakotas maybe, _not_ like Minnesota for sure!

The comment someone else made about the names being Icelandic was very true. And the accent was funny for the U.S. "location", although the bartender/hotel owner's midwestern actress was more authentic.



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Movie desctiption says Minnesota.

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Well - Hastings, Minnesota is credited as one of the places they filmed. Being from Minnesota this doesn't look anything like the landscape of Hastings. A little rural? Yes, but it's not too far from the big cities (about 20 miles south-east of Saint Paul and Minneapolis) and Hastings was far more developed than this in 1985 - when the movie was supposed to be set. There are no dunes or even large hills. It's mostly flat (a few bluffs, but mostly flood plains).

Additionally, there are no towns by the name of Needles or Mid Valley near Hastings like were on the road sign in the movie.

To me this movie felt more like the state of Maine than anything else, but most of it was filmed in Iceland. Overall, I think the producers could have picked a better city in which to base their story, or at least a fictional one.

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Another thing I found about the movie is that the phonebook that Forest Whitaker/Abe Holt is looking in for the address to Mid Valley High School is a Nova Scotia Phonebook. If you go to Yahoo! and search (800) 561-7121 which is for Midland Courier, it is a few lines above Mid Valley High School in the phonebook, it brings up www.midlandcourier.com. On that website you can go to Locations and then I looked for another number that was on the movie 494-5511 which shows to be in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Go here to see http://www.midlandcourier.com/MCTerminals.asp#courierns

I found that pretty funny that they would actually put real phone numbers in the movie, no 555-555-5555's. So I spent about an hour now searching for Hastings, North Hastings & Mid Valley in Nova Scotia, but there is really nothing there that name. Here is a Hastings & Port Hastings Nova Scotia. Also there is a Mid Valley Motel in Middleton, Nova Scotia.

I wasted a lot of time before coming here to check out filming locations.

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I have never been to Minn., I guess i missed something at the beginning that id'd the state. I was thinking it looked similar to West Texas, but the weather did not match.

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There are alot of places in the US that look like the movie setting. I'll bet the same scenery could be found in alot of other countries too. Whittaker's accent wasn't recognizable, but close to what you might hear in main. Its oddity lead me to believe this was way out there in fictionville. All we needed to know was it was someplace rural and out of the way.

Actually, i was surprised that this could be somewhere outside america, given the story appears to be in the US. It was only when getting curious about all the danish looking names that i checked here and found it is from iceland. Thats interesting and hope to see more movies from them.

Its a little refreshing that we might not be totally hated over there and they're willing to build a story about americans using american actors as leads.
Did this movie come with subtitles in iceland?



"Death, has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." Donald Rumsfeld

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Apparently, It was supposed to be in Minnesota. Hastings is a town here, i have been to many times but it did not strike me as being in Minnesota.

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Also as someone mentioned, don't forget that this was set in 1985....not exactly 1902, but all mid-west American cities were less developed then than even now.

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I thought it might have been Nebraska because of the flat land, the house in the middle of nowhere, and there is a Hastings there.

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