Choke

joe.shearer

September 25, 2008 by joe.shearer

0 votes

On the surface, "Choke" is deliciously perverse, a story about a down-and-out sex addict named Victor (Sam Rockwell) whose job at a colonial re-enactment camp (think Conner Prarie) won't pay for his sick mother's (Angelica Huston) nursing home.

To supplement his income, Victor purposely makes himself choke in restaurants in order to play on the sympathies of those who save them and ultimately bilk them out of some cash.

In between, he visits his sex addict support group (which he often leaves to score with another addict in the restroom), hangs out with with his best friend, a compulsive masturbator, and visits his mother, suffering from dementia, thinks he's someone else, and complains about how her son never visits.

If it seems like there's a lot going on, well...kind of, but it's not as hard to follow as the rather obtuse block of text you just read.

The film is highly stylized, relying on freeze-frame shots with overlaid narration to punch home certain points (including a rather nicely surprising twist), and using humor to keep what otherwise would be pretty weighty and depressing stuff somewhat tempered and lighthearted.

One scene finds Victor connecting with a woman with a very specific rape fantasy, and she gets quickly impatient when he doesn't get all of the details right (including where NOT to rape her, so as not to ruin her silk bedspread).

The film is based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, who, among others, wrote "Fight Club," which if you've seen that film will give you a good idea of what sort of humor you're in for.

There are several sex scenes, fairly graphic but pretty short. You get the point and are often shocked, but the camera doesn't linger for more than a few seconds.

There gets to be a point, though, where you have to wade through the mire to get to the film's main focus, and at times it feels like Palahniuk and screenwriter Clark Gregg (who directs and acts in the film as well) are just throwing the most outlandish things they can at the screen for a reaction rather than to service the film, like the guy in high school who would burp the alphabet or throw up on command simply because he could.

Is too much just too much? That's my ultimate question with "Choke," and honestly I don't think I'll have an adequate answer for that question until I see it again.

Posted in groups: Movies

Forum: Movies

Tags: 

Chuck Palahniuk, Sam Rockwell, Choke

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