Search - Revolution #9 on DVD

Sakina Jaffrey - Dr. Ray

This is the story about two people who are forced to deal with the onset of mental illness. Jackson and his fiancee are planning their wedding. As this happy event nears, Jackson begins to show the signs of paranoid schizophrenia. First he believes his colleagues are out to get him-- moving things around on his desk, watching him, using him as a guinea pig (his words, not mine). Since he's in advertising, someone sends him a computer file of the new advertising campaign for a perfume, Revolution No. 9. Jackson believes there are messages in the commercial that are specifically targeting him.

From there, he gets worse. He loses his job, he can't keep his apartment clean, he looks worse for wear. Jackson tries to drag his fiancee into his delusions and begins to distrust her, as well. She tries to get him help, but it's very difficult to get help when the would-be patient cannot even understand he's ill. Some of the laws designed to help the mentally ill really wind up hurting them, instead.

This is an interesting movie with a horribly poor title. The title and the box-- and the way it's recommended on Amazon-- are a bit misleading. To me, this appears to be a little science fiction movie-- is the man going insane or is there truly a conspiracy against him. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is NOT what this movie is about-- despite the other reviewer's misleading question ". . .or is he?" This movie is strictly about what happens when two people who love eachother have to face the onset of incapacitating mental illness.

The resolution of the movie isn't very good-- not because it's not a "happy" ending, but because it ends abruptly at the climax with no denouement. Additionally, it would have been helpful to understand why the father didn't want anything to do with his son since we were under the impression that Jackson had no delusional episodes prior to this first one.

The cast was wonderful-- subtle and authentic. The brief scene with the patient "advocate" was sadly ironic and one wonders how some of these people can sleep at night.

All in all, a pretty good movie that would have benefited from a different title and different box art. Although you can't judge a book or film by the cover, the cover and title here may make one believe this is a low budget science fiction film (nothing wrong with this), but really, it's a serious indie film with a lot of heart.