Close to Heaven

Samuel stands on the edge of a hotel roof in the rain and tries to summon up in his mind an image of his homeland – before he jumps into the street below. We are gradually introduced to the residents and guests of the “Close to Heaven” hotel, who have crossed Samuel's path to a greater or lesser extent. Samuel's black family lives on the fifth and highest floor of the hotel. When grandfather is gone, the family wants to return to Africa. One floor below we find Ernest the Illusionist. A party of pensioners on the third floor meets every evening to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Below them on the second floor, the siamese twins Kira and Mina are obsessed with sex. The mysterious Mr. Jägermeister, of whom we know little and of whom even Samuel has little to say, has moved into a first-floor room only a few days previously. On the ground floor we find not only former boxer Fred, and the hotel owner Gut in reception. Fred has hardly even registered the arrival a few days earlier of his own daughter Emily, who plays no small part in our story. Thus unfolds the story, a story in which everything depends especially on the point of view of the observer on every situation that occurs. Slowly but surely, the fates of the characters living here become entwined, leading to a predestined conclusion. (jakelijan virallinen teksti)