Quid Pro Quo (I) (2008) User Reviews

humane treatment of a sensitive subject

[Buddy-51 · 7/10 · 1 October 2010]

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.

Wheelchair Variation on Cronenberg's Crash

[wastebot · 7/10 · 17 August 2008]

Movie about an odd, underground segment, the intellectually passive version of Cronenberg's Crash. People who want to be crippled from the waste down and confined to a wheelchair.

It is more than that. It's set within a mystery as to whether a radio reporter is getting lured into a trap or fake story. And unlike Crash, there's no drug connection. It's more psychological, but equally dark, simply without the ambiance and style that Crash had.

The downside is that some of it seems too setup and the story under-developed. The result is that it seems less like a theater film and more like a TV movie, but worth watching.

An Interesting Character Study

[TheExpatriate700 · 6/10 · 25 February 2010]

Quid Pro Quo is a character study focusing on people who wish they were paraplegics or amputees, and their interaction with an actual paraplegic. The film's greatest attribute is its performances. Vera Farmiga and Nick Stahl both create excellent portrayals of their characters, with Farmiga's performance being particularly moving.

Although many reviewers have compared this piece to David Cronenberg's Crash, this movie is actually a far different work. Whereas the Cronenberg movie, like the J. G. Ballard novel it was based on, took a very cold, analytical look at its subject matter, this film delves into their psychology. It is a much easier film to engage with, and ultimately more rewarding as well.

The film is not perfect by any means. Its focus on sex as empowerment comes across as oversimplified and even vaguely insulting to the disabled. Furthermore, the plot developments that comprise the last ten minutes of the movie border on the absurd, and survive largely on the strength of the actors' performances.

Nonetheless, the film is well worth a watch.

A bizarre tale of guilt and conscience

[Gordon-11 · 14 June 2010]

This film is about a paralysed radio presenter who meets a woman who wants to be paralysed, with unexpected psychological results to both of them.

The initial hour of "Quid Pro Quo" is disguised as a fetishistic film about a woman who gets sexual excitement by living a paralysed life. it is a bizarre and incomprehensible topic which is likely to put people off. After looking beyond that, the film offers little to engage viewers. There is little to make people want to know what will happen to the characters.

The last ten minutes improve substantially, as the sudden plot twist shifts the focus from a fetishistic emphasis to a moving drama about guilt and conscience. If "Quid Pro Quo" could expand on the guilt and conscience theme, and tone down on the fetishistic theme, then it would be likely to have more success.

Brooks to be commended

[JohnRayPeterson · 6/10 · 16 May 2012]

Isaac Knott, played by Nick Stahl is a public radio reporter in New York; he's been in a wheelchair since he was 8, result of an accident that killed his parents. He sets out to investigate a case of extreme Body Integrity Identity Disorder(BIID) not knowing what it is or even that it existed; he discovers there's a subculture of this which he's most curious to try to understand. His character is broken hearted because his ex-girlfriend, also paraplegic, dumped him when he suggested they marry. On his quest to understand BIID, he meets Fiona, played by Vera Farmiga, who he finds interesting and not all that repulsive, considering she appears to be afflicted by BIID and in a progressive stage; she is gorgeous after all, and seduces him.

He comes across a pair of shoes he's compelled to own, and when he does put them on he magically gains use of his legs, a freak occurrence that only works when he wears them. Up to this point you may feel, as I did, this movie is not going to be one you'll be interested in seeing to the end; I wouldn't blame you, as the subject lends itself to that. However because I really like Vera Farmiga, I stuck it out; can't think another reason one would. The meeting of the two lead characters is not a chance thing; a deep purpose is at play and unfortunately isn't revealed till late in the movie.

The connection of the two leads and that purpose I mentioned was well conceived, I have to admit. You'll also learn about another disorder, hysterical paralysis, thanks to the very good writing by writer/director Carlos Brooks in his debut work. If you have the stomach for that sort of thing watch it, you may learn something. There are unavoidable comparisons one can make to the 1996 David Cronenberg's film Crash, but I won't. I also won't be mentioning or recommending this film to my friends; they may think I'm even more twisted than I sound at times, but I'm not. What I am is a movie buff with a broad interest and if you are as well, you may find it interesting.

My Review

[joemamaohio · 7/10 · 17 August 2008]

"Quid Pro Quo" is about handicapped reporter Isaac (Nick Stahl) as he's given an odd story - people who wish to be handicapped. His investigation leads him to Fiona (Vera Farmiga), a capable woman who wishes she could be in a wheelchair like himself.

As their relationship blossoms, he discovers some shocking information about Fiona, as well as try to come to terms with his own guilt about why he's handicapped, all of which leads to a shocking climax.

This is a pretty decent movie (Magnolia Pictures always seem to do excellent work), with great acting, a superior story and deep insight into the lives of people most don't understand - those who wish to be handicapped even though they're not.

Pretentious, but since it's a first effort, be gentle.

[patchworkworld · 4/10 · 13 March 2009]

The film has am extremely simple plot. Very young guy confined to wheelchair by hysterical paralysis mixed with partial traumatic amnesia produced by the parent-killing car wreck occurring years ago when he was a child meets but of course doesn't recognize young chick who drove the car that caused the accident and is now obsessed with the idea of becoming a paraplegic like him aka like the kid in the car she crashed into. This simplistic view of two "mental illnesses" gets dressed up with 1) obsessed chick arranging to meet (and sleep with, equally of course) wheelchair bound guy via the plot device of anonymously informing him of a human interest story (he is an NPR-radio-station-type reporter) 2) utterly stupid 'human interest story' (an urban legend style boffo about a bunch of people who "wannabe" paralyzed for no particular reason whatsoever) 3) "magic fred astaire shoes" (of course, again, the shoes are nothing more than a mental "crutch" the guy is subconsciously using to give himself a reason to walk... that enable wheelchair guy to walk...after falling down a lot, only very slowly, with crutches or a cane...sort of like you'd expect someone who has been working out to retard muscular atrophy but who hasn't stood or walked for years to behave when finally standing and walking... 3) a few couldabeengreat lines that came off as too silly to be taken half-seriously because of the trying-to-be-an-allegory but frankly rather silly plot. (Example: "I'm a paralyzed person trapped in a walking person's body." Sillier example: "wannabe" paralyzed to alleviate her guilt over putting the guy in a wheelchair chick says to him --seriously!!!-- after they discover his paralysis is actually hysterical: "Why would anyone wannabe paralyzed?") The story could have been very good. It was just so obvious about its allegory role and so silly in its urban legend depiction of the way guilt-ridden obsessed chick got into crash victim guy's bed that it kind of gut punched its own good qualities. The next effort probably will be decent.

Glad I saw it

[jaywindley · 9/10 · 29 January 2008]

I saw this film on the closing night of Sundance, mostly because all the other films I wanted to see were sold out. I'm glad I went. Nick Stahl and Vera Farmiga dance adeptly around and through the film's premise, which is coaxed pleasantly out of a screenplay that writer-director Carlos Brooks has polished over seven years.

Stahl plays a public radio reporter confined to a wheelchair since a childhood accident. While following a lead in a bizarre story, he meets Fiona (Farmiga), a mysterious woman who leads him into a reclusive subculture. At first, microphone in hand, he wants the story. But then a trip to a second-hand store for some shoes convinces him the story isn't what he thought it was.

The Sundance catalogue billed it as a "psychological thriller," but in my opinion that misses the mark. Yes, we're introduced to some oddly quirky characters along the way. But Brooks bills is as a detective story, and that's how I think it's best approached. It's an exercise in restrained exposition that keeps the viewer guessing right up until the film's final scenes.

As with most independent films, this one makes good use of small-scale locations and intimate moments. Even the Manhattan exteriors favor enclosed sidewalks and narrow passages. The cinematography, done on high-definition video, is crisply executed and richly textured with subtle but effective details. (The lustrous wallpaper in Fiona's apartment actually has its own screen credit.) The camera spends a great deal of time at the eye level of a wheelchair occupant, emphasizing the point of view and expanding the small spaces in which many of the film's scenes take place.

Stahl and Farmiga drive a substantial portion of the film by themselves. Brooks admits that the their story took over the film as he shot and edited it. As a result the supporting ensemble retreats to the distance, a position from which performances from James Frain (as Stahl's mentor) and Michal Leamer (Fiona's mother) can give brief but memorable performances.

Vera Farmiga creates a complex character whom you can't help loving, hating, and fearing all at the same time. Nick Stahl's performance stays even and understated until his veneer breaks apart and the detective story comes full circle.

The only negative aspect to the film is the frank treatment of the subculture that frames the principal characters, not because the treatment is unfair or poorly executed, but because it's likely to take the average viewer by surprise. Look for wide release in May 2008.

Solving a puzzle doesn't mean much if the puzzle doesn't make sense

[MBunge · 4/10 · 13 June 2011]

This is one of those "puzzle movies" where all the pieces of the story are supposed to come together at the end and blow your mind. Unfortunately, some of the pieces to this puzzle don't fit and some of them are missing.

Isaac Knot (Nick Stahl) was paralyzed from the waist down in a car crash that killed his parents when he was eight. He's working for a New York City public radio station when he receives an anonymous tip about a man walking into an emergency room and asking a doctor to cut his perfectly healthy leg off. While investigating, Isaac is led to a very weird support group. It's for healthy people who want to be paralyzed. These folks are described as "paralyzed people trapped in the bodies of walking people". Now, the movie doesn't make any attempt to explain this condition, except to make pretty darn obvious analogies to being homosexual or transgendered. If you find the comparison of being gay or the need to become the opposite sex to wishing you were crippled to be somewhat insulting, you definitely want to avoid Quid Pro Quo.

Anyway, Isaac eventually meets his anonymous tipster. It's a woman named Fiona (Vera Farmiga). She wants to be paralyzed and reaches out to Isaac to try and understand her own desires. The two of them start a romantic relationship, during which Fiona gets closer and closer to "coming out" in public with her paralysis compulsion and Isaac finds a pair of magic shoes that allow him to walk. No, I'm not joking. He finds a pair of magic shoes that allow him to walk. If you stop reading this review right now because you've decided there's no chance in hell you'll even watch this film, I'll understand.

Fiona steals Isaac's magic shoes and says she won't give them back unless Isaac fulfills her need and helps paralyze her. At this point it becomes clear that this story was only ever about the bizarre and mysterious relationship between the two lead characters and not the subject of paralysis. The whole sub-culture of paralysis wannabes was nothing more than a red herring. There is an actual disorder about folks who wants parts of their body cut off, but apparently the whole "wanting to be paralyzed" thing is completely made up.

I'm now going to reveal Quid Pro Quo's really big plot twist. If you weren't turned off by the whole "paralyzed=gay/transgendered" thing and still have any desire to watch this film, stop reading now. After I go into this story element, there will be very little left about the movie for you to possibly enjoy.

Ready?

Isaac isn't physically paralyzed. It's all in his head and is referred to as "hysterical paralysis". The shoes aren't actually magic, they're just a excuse his brain locks onto to stop pretending. This is where we get into this film being a puzzle that's incomplete and unfinished. The revelation about Isaac is supposed to be a big deal, like the whole Keyser Soze bit in The Usual Suspects, where you suddenly look at the story in a totally different light…but it isn't. That's because there's no explanation for why Isaac reacted to the crash that killed his parents by deluding himself into being crippled and there's no explanation for why a pair of shoes breaks down that psychological barrier. Those are hugely important pieces to this puzzle and you can't help but notice they're missing. So, while the movie thinks it's wowing you with its finished puzzle, you're not sure exactly what you're supposed to be impressed with. This film is like a guy with a Rubix Cube who has only got one side all the same color but tells you he's solved it.

There is another twist in the real connection between Isaac and Fiona, but I'll let the movie keep that secret. You'll probably see it coming anyway.

As far as the acting goes, Farmiga is fine in her individual scenes. Her character of Fiona, however, doesn't really add up. Isaac is more fully formed, but Stahl's performance is far too passive and empty to make us care about him. I think he was trying to pace himself, so that when Isaac does show some life it's more striking. The character spends too much time being so calm and placid in the face of the odd and disturbing, though, that the audience has mentally disconnected from him before he ever acts up.

This story might have made a great half-hour episode for a Twilight Zone-type show. In that format, its shocking twist might have hit with enough force to keep you from noticing that it's pulled completely out of the filmmaker's butt. To stretch Quid Pro Quo out to over 80 minutes, so much superfluous, go-nowhere crap is chucked into the story that by the time you get to the be reveal…it no longer has any power and leaves you wondering why you wasted your time on this film.

The best mysteries reveal the self, not just the solution to the mystery

[UncleTantra · 10/10 · 25 June 2008]

I liked "Quid Pro Quo," a LOT. Do NOT be put off by the subject matter; that's just "local color" for a good, old-fashioned mystery, one that opens up" into not only revelation, but self-revelation. For those who like mystical mysteries, it's even got a pair of magical shoes that perform miracles.

The film is what it is not only because of a masterful script, but because of two actors who basically eat the screen with fine performances -- Nick Stahl and Vera Farmiga. Stahl plays a public radio reporter who is semi-paralyzed; the accident in his youth that killed his parents left him in a wheelchair. He gets a tip from an anonymous woman that at a local hospital, a man recently walked in and tried to bribe one of the residents to amputate his leg. Following up on it, he finds that not only is it true, but that there is a subculture out there that *envies* those in wheelchairs, and wants to become like them. They call themselves "wannabees," and have been known to cripple themselves or have others do it for them so that they can live their "inner dream" of being confined to a wheelchair themselves.

His investigation leads him to a mysterious and beautiful young woman, played by Vera Farmiga in a performance that is going to get her a LOT of work in the film biz. She's tremendous -- innocent, sexy, conflicted, and at every turn of the plot the person who leads Stahl's character deeper and deeper into his investigation of why on earth someone would *want* to be confined to a wheelchair.

It's a great flick, by a first-time writer/director, someone who IMO is To Be Watched. Highly recommended.

Garbola

[burnste329 · 1/10 · 27 December 2008]

This was probably the worst movie I have seen since The Arrival. And one of the worst films I have ever seen in my life. Having been suckered into renting this horrific piece of garbage, i left the movie experience feeling ill- literally. Horrible screen writing, atrocious acting, contrived bullshit plots, and unbelievable characters. Magic Shoes? Ginger Jake? Am I expected to believe that somebody who has been in a wheelchair for 20 years could just get up and start walking. Somehow I don't think the human body works that way. If they wanted to make a sci-fi movie maybe they should have contacted Spielberg. How could Vera Farmiga go from being in The Departed to being in this horrendous crap pile of a movie. She should shoot her agent. And anyone who liked this film should shoot themselves.

Feeling trapped in your chair

[tummybunny · 1/10 · 28 January 2010]

This had positive reviews but i've run marathons that passed faster. I watched it with a friend and half way through felt compelled to stop it and apologise, which I've never done before. I eventually finished it but remain baffled by what anyone could think this movie has going for it.

As mentioned elsewhere, the main theme here is able bodied people who want to become paralysed, or paraplegic. So if that's the single most mind blowing and fascinating concept you've ever heard of, then you probably still shouldn't bother watching this because it's not like they explain it. The characters dawdle along through tedious lives and pointless, boring conversations. None of the dialogue or actions are interesting or engaging at all. Occasionally things get a little animated, but it's usually difficult to understand why and always completely impossible to care in the slightest.

Eventually I'm pretty sure nothing happens at the end but even though I just finished a couple of hours ago I can't remember much other than feeling very grateful.

Strange and Fascinating Detective Story

[gradyharp · 8/10 · 31 August 2008]

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

Farmiga does justice to a great script.

[Panterken · 8/10 · 5 July 2008]

Vera Farmiga (playing 'Fiona') and Nick Stahl (bringing 'Isaac' to life) get two endlessly interesting characters thrown their way by first timer Carlos Brooks, and they know what to do with the material. Fiona's part's the most fleshed out and she hands in the greatest performance I've seen in quite some time; I have to scrape some long term memories together to conclude I can't remember seeing an equally great performance in at least half a year, that one being Jason Patric's in 'Your Friends & Neighbors'.

'Quid Pro Quo' deals with a difficult subject, namely paralysis: Stahl's semi-paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair since involved in a brutal car-accident at age 8, during which he lost both his parents. He's a radio-journalist whose work one day brings him in contact with Fiona, she's charming, endearing and very sexy but she makes some unexpected revelations about herself: she feels she's a paralyzed person confined to an able body. We follow Nick as he further descends into the subculture and Brooks passes us some insights about paralysis along the way.

I couldn't help reminiscing about 'Spider ' and other Cronenbergs when viewing, QPQ's style's not totally unlike the fore-mentioned but if some reading at the moment fear 'boredom' (I would never dare to call Cronenberg 'boring' but I can understand why some might would be inclined to), I can assure you QPQ makes for a very accessible film.

You know how every great song seems to be over far too soon and how every time you eat a great meal the plate seems to be smaller than it used to be, well as interesting and entertaining as 'Quid Pro Quo' is, it could've used a cherry on top of the icing. Carlos's script does bravely take the road less traveled, I must admit to myself maybe a thriller dealing with the subject would've pleased me more. QPQ's a very pleasing (albeit not that deep) character drama, but I saw a brilliant thriller lurking inches underneath the surface. However, for a drama, QPQ 's surprisingly light on it's feet: no vast array of manipulative long shots of Isaac suffering from his condition, no indoctrination to the writer's vision. Instead we get 'Magic shoes', comedic bantering between Isaac and his doorman and a realistic ending. All of these elements, make the film very easy to watch yet it doesn't leave you feeling indifferent.

If you have a brain and a heart you'll enjoy this very fine debut by Carlos Brooks, I'd advise anyone with a passion for cinema to keep an eye on him.

Hand Me Down My Walking Cane

[valis1949 · 8/10 · 4 March 2009]

QUID PRO QUO shows us that no matter how entrenched we are in our world view, there are always people who feel, with equal intensity, the exact opposite. Who would trade mobility for a wheelchair? Meet the characters in this film. QUID PRO QUO examines a psycho-sexual subgroup who feel that they are normal, but "trapped in a walking person's body". We are introduced to a paraplegic radio talk show host who meets a young woman who yearns to be disabled. This part is played by the radiantly crazy Vera Farmiga who rolls over Nick Stahl's staid NPR persona with willful glee. Farmiga injects a recklessly erotic element to this otherwise plodding script. She throws down a little MURDERBALL into this decidedly odd and weird universe, and as to why she is up to all of this? It becomes the strange trick-ending to this odd bit of fantasy. If you liked David Cronenberg's film, CRASH, you might enjoy this movie's nutty vibe.

Fierce, Fearless, Farmiga

[smiley_b81 · 8 September 2008]

I'm not gonna summarize what this film's about (cuz if you got this far you probably know---B.I.I.D.)

What I will say is that the other posters are right, if you like the work of Cronenberg (especially "Crash" and "Dead Ringers"), but are disappointed with the Canadian filmmaker's more recent mainstream forays, you def. need to check this out.

The other reason to see it is Vera Farmiga, an actress who has been working in the shadow of Cate Blanchett for years now, and who here takes on a role that Blanchett wouldn't dare touch.

Underrated.

A film that leads to self-realization and restoration; that ends beautifully with a touch of reality

[alidede · 8/10 · 11 May 2009]

I watch a lot films; in a week it differs from 5 to 10. This screenplay was unique in way that made me think about myself and life and how vulnerable we are.

These two very interesting characters where the moment you met them you want to learn more about them is acted by two very talented actor/actress named Nick Stahl and elegant Vera Farmiga. Before the half of the movie I presumed the big twist about the Nick's character but it was hidden and portrayed in a fine way that when the answer is shown to the audience, you don't feel so much surprise but also you don't feel cheated in any way. Hence, it feels like life itself.

Consequently, the ending which was very beautiful cinematographically with a touch of reality that makes it absolutely delicious that leads to pause when Nick's character ends the film with the line: Isacc Knott, Public Radio, New York.