Release Date: 08/19/2008
Label/Distributor: Magnolia
Rating: R (Restricted)
Prebook DVD: 07/22/2008
Retail Price: $26.98
Genre: Drama Cast: Kate Burton,Nick Stahl,James Frain,Jessica Hecht,Dylan Bruno
Running Time: 82
DVD Video Options: Closed-captioned,Color,Dolby,DVD-Video,Subtitled,Widescreen,NTSC
DVD Audio Options: English;Original Language
DVD Extras: deleted scenes, commentary
UPC Code: 876964000376
Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) is a Public Radio reporter in New York City. When he was eight his mother and father died in an automobile accident that left him in a wheelchair.On air Isaac recounts how he recently received an anonymous tip from someone identified only as "Ancient Chinese Girl." She tells him a perfectly able-bodied man walked into an emergency ward downtown and attempted to bribe a doctor into amputating his leg.As Isaac investigates the eerie tip he encounters Fiona (Vera Farmiga) who through her own quandary leads Isaac to a netherworld of people afflicted with a perverse desire to be disabled. Like a contemporary noir detective film QUID PRO QUO follows Issac as he embarks on a dream-like journey to pull back the layers of what makes people feel whole.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:-áDRAMA UPC:-á876964000376 Manufacturer No:-á10037
Quid Pro Quo
By Ed Hulse -- Video Business, 6/30/2008
MAGNOLIA |
Street: Aug. 19
Prebook: July 22
> Unsettling drama balances bizarre story with effective performances.
While following an anonymous tip, semi-paralyzed, wheelchair-bound reporter Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) encounters enigmatic artist Fiona (Vera Farmiga) and descends into a netherworld of disaffected people with a perverse desire to be disabled. Part psychological drama and part detective story, the haunting Quid Pro Quo has some neo-noir trappings but avoids anything that might smack of the lurid or exploitative. At times dreamlike, almost surreal, this consistently interesting film derives much of its effectiveness from the restrained, nuanced performances of its two stars.
Shelf Talk: With no theatrical profile and no film-festival awards to tout in marketing materials, Quid Pro Quo will have a hard time finding an audience. The film’s novelty will actually work against it, but viewers with a taste for stories that grapple with these difficult issues—such as The Sea Inside—are likely targets. You might also draw attention to the presence of up-and-coming Farmiga of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, whose offbeat, daring characterizations are winning her a loyal, if still small constituency.
Drama, color, R (mature themes, language, sexual situations), 82 min., DVD $26.98Extras: director’s commentary, deleted scenes
Director: Carlos Brooks
First Run: DVD premiere
