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Marley
Corbett, a
sassy beauty from New Orleans, played by Kate Hudson, gets diagnosed
with late
stage colon cancer. Even before her textured story unravels, it gets
told, at
least partially, through her telltale name. She is irreverent, spirited
and
carefree, like the famed reggae Rasta whose patronymic she borrows her
first
name from. On the other hand, her surname evokes the image of an
orderly, affluent
American family, just like the one she hails from. Her father, Jack
(Treat
Williams), is a taciturn businessman who lacks compassion and her
mother,
Beverly (Kathy Bates), is a loquacious and portly housewife. Marley
lives on
the edge, dividing her time up between a successful advertising career,
a gay
male roomie, a beloved bulldog, a close circle of friends and a party
girl lifestyle.
However, her life in the fast lane comes to a screeching halt when she
turns increasingly
pale. Sarah (Lucy Punch), her BFF, advises her to go for a medical
checkup. She
obliges. Marley finds herself getting treated by Dr. Julian Bernstein
(Gael
Garcia Bernal), a Jewish Mexican heartthrob. She later slips
into a drug-induced nap and dreams up
an encounter with God (Whoopi Goldberg) - who takes Goldberg’s form
because she
is Marley’s favorite personality. Marley learns that she is dying and
is
granted three wishes.
She
wishes for a
chance to fly and a million dollars (taxed) but stumbles on the third
wish,
uncertain of any other desire. God-as-Whoopi-Goldberg informs her that
she does know what she wants, only that she
does not know it yet. A short while after this encounter, Dr. Bernstein
delivers
the grim tidings personally. Her life post-diagnosis slowly revolves
into a
carousel ride of spectral emotions. Initially, she reacts to her
predicament
with her usual wry humour. This is epitomised by an excruciating scene
where she
casually slips news of her condition into a merry dinner conversation
with her
friends. She even finds the mettle and energy to pursue her doctor’s
affections.
Originally, Julian invokes the sacrosanctity of professional
detachment,
however, Marley’s persistent charm eventually wins him over. As the
bond
between them grows, the cynical Marley realises that she is actually in
love, and
to this humourless yo-yo hobbyist of all people. One suspects that a
true love
might have been her undisclosed third wish. As her time wears thin and
her
defences fall, she is forced to confront the distressing reality of her
condition. Thereafter begins a painfully honest and introspective
journey into
her relationships with those that she will soon leave behind.
Directress
Nicole
Kassell comes into her sophomore picture as a relative unknown in the
American film
industry. Her debut feature, The Woodsman,
was released publically back in ’04 to critical acclaim. She has also
adapted
Arthur Miller’s play The Ride Down St.
Morgan and helmed a few episodes of Cold
Case and 3 lbs. In her second
major outing, Kassell shows unfulfilled promise as A
Little Bit of Heaven winds up being a mixed affair. To start off
with, her film’s main strength lies in its emotional complexity. No,
seriously.
Whilst it undoubtedly lacks the reified poignancy of Denys Arcand’s
masterly The Barbarian Invasions, the film does
surprise with its deft displays of emotional insulation and its sudden
surges
of wrathful outrage. Kate Hudson offers a thespian masterclass in her
portrayal
of Marley’s emotional trajectory. It is almost unbearably painful at
times to
watch Marley lash out at those closest to her when we secretly know
that she
lacks the bravery to convey just how much she needs them. Such is
Hudson’s prismatic
performance that even when she hurls bizarre
gibes of inarticulate malice at her loved ones, the audience can only
feel for
and love Marley even more. Kassell does a fine job of drawing the
audience into
Marley’s personal world. We observe the beautiful subtleties that
define her
friendships and the great sacrificial lengths to which her friends will
hide
their pain from her.
Were it
not for its
emotional propulsion, Kassell’s film would be a spent vehicle. This
inertia is
epitomised through her uninspired portrayal of Marley and Julian’s
relationship. Her portrayal is shallow at best and fanciful at worst.
The theme
of their relationship is humour – an awkward choice for a romance
between a
dying patient and an unfunny doctor. It all begins when Julian offers
to put Marley
at ease by telling her a joke. Marley hypes it up and so Julian
reneges,
overawed by the occasion. In their next meeting,
Julian
relates a funny joke that he’d heard earlier that night but muffs the
delivery
completely. Julian keeps trying to improve his joke telling in
virtually every
encounter they have afterward. In such ways, the film gets in way over
its head
as its comic message gets lost in the commotion of its own
“cleverness”. Julian’s
jokes are never funny and neither are Marley’s. The tone of the film
becomes
confusing as one is left uncertain as to whether the film is meant to
be ironically
funny if at all. Julian’s inability to deliver his humorous jokes thus
images
Kassell’s direction in this film rather perfectly. Even when Marley
explicitly
draws on gallows humour in putting the “fun” into “funeral” by planning
it as
some festive celebration, there is a conceptual and tonal awkwardness
to the
comedy that the film never recovers from.
The
choice of New
Orleans as the story’s symbolic setting is painfully patronising, with
its
soulful spaces ill wed to the film’s pervasive shallowness. The film’s
symbols,
in general, are a tad obvious – a terminally-ill patient who was
successful at
advertising, “a little bit of heaven” being the nickname for a dwarfish
gigolo
that she misjudged based on appearances and the feel-good queen
herself, Whoopi
Goldberg, reigning as the God of Kassell’s microcosm. Duh. However, for
what it
is, A Little Bit of Heaven is a
terribly moving film pitched to the audience’s sympathies. And it works
a
lacrimal treat.
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