Product Details

• Actors: Nick Stahl, Rachel Black, Jessica Hecht, Jacob Pitts, Ashlie Atkinson
• Directors: Carlos Brooks
• Producers: Quid Pro Quo
• Format: Import, PAL, Widescreen
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Force Video
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001QC3K08

Editorial Reviews

Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: You wouldn't believe the things that people wish for. In this dark and sexy indie gem, NICK STAHL stars as paraplegic radio reporter Isaac Knott. Knott has spent his life in a wheelchair thanks to a tragic childhood accident. He's comfortable with himself, but he never imagined that people might envy him not until he stumbles across a very special society of malcontents... A mysterious story and a gorgeous girl are about to teach Knott an important lesson: it takes all kinds of special dreams to make the world go round. ...Quid Pro Quo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange and Fascinating Detective Story, August 31, 2008

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Quid Pro Quo (DVD)

Helpful Note: Wikipedia definition: Quid pro quo (Latin for "something for something") indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services.

Carlos Brooks makes an impressive debut as both writer and director of this little independent film QUID PRO QUO, a story that may make some viewers uncomfortable because of the subject matter, but an intelligent investigation of a subculture unknown to most and a script that leads to a surprising ending - if the viewer keeps thinking after the rolling credits are over!

Isaac (Nick Stahl) is a reporter for a small radio station, a role that gives him the opportunity to uncover novel human interest stories for his audience. Interestingly, Isaac is a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair since age 8 when he was the survivor of a car crash that killed both his parents. He has full function of most of his body, but cannot walk. Isaac receives an email from one 'Ancient Chinese Girl' that contains a message about a person who convinced a doctor to amputate a normal leg. Isaac is fascinated and sets out to investigate the story and eventually discovers the source of the email - one young and very beautiful Fiona (Vera Farmiga) - who introduces him to a subculture of people who want to be wheelchair bound: in a group meeting Isaac hears strange stories from a disparate group of people who meet to discuss their obsession with being paralyzed, their chance to be noticed and cared about as quasi-invalids who would go so far as having an amputation of a normal limb to enable their wheelchair dreams.

Isaac soon discovers that Fiona shares this obsession, demonstrates her secrets to Isaac, and the two begin to bond physically and emotionally. Isaac is the first person to see Fiona make her 'debut' in public in a wheelchair. They share lunch in a café and share their life experiences: Isaac confesses that he harbors foreshortened memory of his accident - his last memory is lying in the road seeing a young girl with red and white pompoms trying to save him. Isaac surprises himself (and shares his surprise with Fiona) when he buys a pair of 'Fred Astaire shoes', and upon trying them on, he is able to walk! Fiona's response is mixed - she is happy that Isaac is ambulatory but at the same time she is led to believe that Isaac's paralysis may be of an hysterical nature, that he really has never been paralyzed except as a reaction to the guilt he harbors about his parent's death and his sole survivorship of the accident. How these two people deal with the information as it develops provides a startling ending to this story, a detective mystery that in retrospect proves to have given us, the audience, countless clues throughout the film - clues only discovered in retrospect!

Both Nick Stahl and Vera Farmiga give vital performances, able to draw us in to their odd characters and make us care. There are many fine cameo roles - Kate Burton as Fiona's mother, James Frain as Isaac's priest friend, and all the members of the wannabe wheelchair bound group - and the cinematography by Michael McDonough is both appropriately claustrophobic indoors and transcendently beautiful in the tulip fields of Skagit Valley, WA used as the setting for the upstate New York accident location. Mark Mothersbaugh ties the moods of the film together with his expert musical score. This is a tough little film to watch, but a film that supplies much gratification and challenge. It is a fine debut for Carlos Brooks. Recommended. Grady Harp, August 08

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Twisted little film that would look great in BD..., August 18, 2008

By 

Steve Kuehl "SLV Video" (Boulder Creek, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Quid Pro Quo (DVD)

This film keeps getting the trailer and media exposure of being another Crash-esque (1995) style film with a serious coverage of psychotic "wannabes" that wish for physical/medical impairments. And it almost appears that way in the beginning, but as you make it through all of those uncomfortable sexual moments what transpires is another come-to-terms film of emotional withholdings.

Vera Farmiga and Nich Stahl lead this film of exploration and in the end, twists of forgiveness and moving forward. Vera's performance was forced and seemed on fast forward at times, but she still looks elegant on the screen. Nick appears to be creating a name for himself so I would recommend the film especially for his fan base.

Technically, the intermittent flashbacks of tulip fields and the opening color montage during the credits would make for a great Blu display, but the remainder of the film is mostly filled with browns, silvers and darks. The DVD contains footage from the Whole documentary, deleted scenes, a tulip montage to some nice music, and most importantly - the alternate ending that was significantly better. Several ladies were watching this with me and they felt the film was ruined with the corny ending that is in the film now, but the alternate was much more appropriate and gave the whole (deleted) love story much needed closure.

I have noticed in other reviews that any topics touching the disabilities, psychosis, or challenges shown in the film spur ugly debates. Putting all of that aside, it is a watchable film with a good twist ending that should keep the masses slightly entertained.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars humane treatment of a sensitive subject, October 1, 2010

By 

Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Quid Pro Quo (DVD)

***1/2

Set on the very fringes of underground society, Carlos Brooks' "Quid Pro Quo" is a humane and compassionate tale of non-handicapped people who have a pathological obsession with becoming either partially or totally disabled (or at least living their lives as if they were). In the most extreme cases, some will even go so far as to stage accidents, endure amputations or employ special drugs to turn their fantasy into reality. And, like anyone who's harboring a deep, dark secret from a critical world, these people are forced to live their lives in the closet, terrified that they will be rejected by those they care most about if they reveal the truth of who they really are inside.

Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) has been a paraplegic since he was a teen, the result of a car accident in which both his parents were killed. He's now a reporter for a local radio station and it is through an assignment for his work that he meets a group of able-bodied "wannabes," as well as an attractive young woman named Fiona (Vera Farmiga from "Up in the Air") who desperately wants to live life in a wheelchair and implores Isaac to help her achieve that goal.

This quiet and gentle, though emotionally complex, film rises above its potentially tricky subject matter through insightful performances, sensitive writing, and a plot that nicely dovetails into itself in the second half. We discover that there's a great deal more to both Isaac and Fiona and their relationship than initially meets the eye, and those revelations go a long way towards deepening the theme and enhancing the characters.