'Choke' is hard to spot but worth seeing

October 08, 2008
Gary Smothers
Staff Writer

If you’re considering seeing Choke, good luck finding it.  I had to travel an hour and a half north to Bloomington, but the trip was worth it.  The film, directed by Clark Gregg, is dark spirited and sexy, with all the trappings of most indie fare.  Present is the well-written story too strange for a wide audience, relatively unknown actors with the token heavy hitting thespian, Anjelica Huston, and a controversial subject matter.

This film has sex-- a lot of perverted, twisted, taboo-riddled sex.  But that’s not all.  It also pokes fun at Jesus Christ, the elderly, and strippers.  See:  “dark spirited.”  See also:  “controversial subject matter.”  If you read the book, you’ll get that.

Unfortunately, fans of the book or its author Chuck Palahniuk will consist of the majority of the film's audience.  Don’t expect something as hard and violent as his other adapted work, Fight Club.  This film, contrary to most of Chuck Palahniuk’s other works, offers a surprisingly touching message in the midst of all the sex and dark humor.

Choke is the story of Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell), a sex addict known to frequent Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings to pick up potential scores, and his desperate means to maintain care for his dementia plagued mother (Anjelica Huston).  He needs to keep her in the care of her nursing home staff.  To do this, he fakes choking in fancy restaurants after scoping the diner for the wealthiest appearing clientele.  His theory is that when saved by someone, they will care for you—financially—for the rest of their life.  You become their special project, the subject of their heroism story.

While at the nursing home he meets a doctor who takes a great concern in the quickly degrading condition of his mother.  The doctor changes Victor in ways he never thought imaginable, including inspiring in him the possibility that he may be the genetically cloned offspring of none other than Jesus Christ.  Bolstered by this belief, he thinks he can help everyone in the nursing home.

It’s not a film for everyone and there are some problems with it.

First, the majority of the film takes place in a nursing home.  Don’t come looking here for action.  This is a dark thinking man’s (or woman’s) type of comedy.  The production value appears to be low, as evidenced by the poor picture quality and the fact that it was shot in only three weeks.

Sam Rockwell is annoying at times as he seemingly tries to channel Owen Wilson’s whiney, innocent voice.

But the sinful story is a tight, well-acted film.  Take a drive to see it.