The Straitjacket Lottery

Aboslutely fantastic film! I saw it in Halifax and could not be more impressed with it. These two young film makers have produced a wonderful effort here and it should not be missed!

The actors are great (Andy Jones is always wonderful and doesn't disappoint)... the music is fantastic (unlike any other soundtrack I've heard - surreal and fantastic - Dave Scott is a serious talent)... and the film making itself is superb. From the lighting to the camera-work, the film had a subtle and beautiful quality to it, resisting any standard gimmicks.

The story itself had a very clever premise and the subtitles got a ton of well deserved laughs.

Don't know what else to say... just make sure to keep track of Doug Karr and Sierra Bellows in the future. Great job!

This film is a very cool find. It follows the misadventures of a bus driver as he attempts to transfer a group of mental patients to a different hospital. Naturally, things go wrong. This is a smart satire of the trust we place in authority figures. We assume that someone in charge is someone to listen to and believe blindly, sometimes to our detriment. The opposite is true, too: will anyone believe what a crazy person says? I really connected with the sense of absurdity, which the filmmakers balance with the appearance of reality. This isn't something easy to achieve, so it was really satisfying to see it pulled off. The use of mental illness classifications on screen, probably inspired by the DSM-IV, was a nice touch. It gave insight into all of the characters, while parodying the urge to categorize every single personality quirk. How crazy does someone have to be to be labeled insane, and what differentiates the insane from everyone else? The cast is really good too, especially Andy Jones (of Codco fame.) His character goes through several emotional changes, and he manages to keep each one consistent and believable. I would be interested in seeing what could happen next with these characters, although it isn't actually necessary. This film stands well as it is, with a satisfying ending. I look forward to seeing what comes next from Doug Karr and Sierra Bellows.