David O'ConnellChoke
October 8th 2008 02:20
Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Choke arrives on the big screen in a much anticipated adaptation by writer/director Clark Gregg. With Sam Rockwell perfectly cast in the lead role of Victor Mancini, Palahniuk’s blend of subversive, nihilistic humour and begrudging pathos is exploited fully in a highly entertaining crowd-pleaser of a film, though it does lack the type of pretension that might have elevated it to the level of the novelist’s most lauded adaptation, Fight Club.
Victor is a sex addict involved in a therapy group with his fellow sufferers who also include his best friend Denny (Brad Henke), a chronic masturbator; the pair also work together as actors or tour guides, of a sort, at a re-created American Colonial village, where they’re constantly hounded by their boss Charlie (played by director, Gregg) for slip-ups in maintaining the colonial theme their duties require.
Victor also relies on the charity of strangers who “save” him from death as he operates his con game in restaurants, deliberately choking on food halfway through a meal; some of these good Samaritans form a sentimental association with him and the generous donations they send him thereafter are used to help pay for the hospital bed his deteriorating, senile mother Ida (Angelica Huston) requires.
The mother and son relationship forms the crux of the story ultimately, humourous diversions aside. Ida rarely recognizes her son, who is determined to coax the truth of his father’s identity out of her before her fading memory finally subsides. He’s had to deal with abandonment all his life - issues which have obviously fed his shallow attitude towards women.
There’s a host of slowly revealing flashbacks to his childhood as the pair are constantly on the run from the police, the radical Ida continually stealing him from foster parents.
Rockwell, with his earthy, unconventional looks, is superb - as always - as Victor, making this self-declared ‘bad’ person a sympathetic character throughout. The sex addiction angle is ripe with potential for outrageous satire and though it isn’t mined as heavily as you might imagine, it’s pitched at just the right level as a foil to Victor’s relationship dramas.
His true awakening is in realising that his one failure at a sexual conquest may be because of the only true feelings he’s ever had for the woman - Paige (the excellent Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald), a doctor who helps with understanding his mum’s condition.
There are some very funny running jokes like Victor’s interactions with the other disturbed geriatric ‘inmates’ at his mum’s hospital, his fellow sex addicts, and a scene where he hooks up with a woman keen for him to play the pivotal role in her latest rape fantasy!
Choke is never boring, though it does lacks visual flair, being shot in a flat, conventional manner by Gregg on what was obviously a restricted budget. It does justice to Palahniuk’s novel however and at a perfect 85 minutes it’s worth a look for fans of the novel and Rockwell especially.
Victor is a sex addict involved in a therapy group with his fellow sufferers who also include his best friend Denny (Brad Henke), a chronic masturbator; the pair also work together as actors or tour guides, of a sort, at a re-created American Colonial village, where they’re constantly hounded by their boss Charlie (played by director, Gregg) for slip-ups in maintaining the colonial theme their duties require.
Victor also relies on the charity of strangers who “save” him from death as he operates his con game in restaurants, deliberately choking on food halfway through a meal; some of these good Samaritans form a sentimental association with him and the generous donations they send him thereafter are used to help pay for the hospital bed his deteriorating, senile mother Ida (Angelica Huston) requires.
The mother and son relationship forms the crux of the story ultimately, humourous diversions aside. Ida rarely recognizes her son, who is determined to coax the truth of his father’s identity out of her before her fading memory finally subsides. He’s had to deal with abandonment all his life - issues which have obviously fed his shallow attitude towards women.
Denny and Victor at work in full Colonial gear
There’s a host of slowly revealing flashbacks to his childhood as the pair are constantly on the run from the police, the radical Ida continually stealing him from foster parents.
Rockwell, with his earthy, unconventional looks, is superb - as always - as Victor, making this self-declared ‘bad’ person a sympathetic character throughout. The sex addiction angle is ripe with potential for outrageous satire and though it isn’t mined as heavily as you might imagine, it’s pitched at just the right level as a foil to Victor’s relationship dramas.
Victor tends to his ailing mother Ida
His true awakening is in realising that his one failure at a sexual conquest may be because of the only true feelings he’s ever had for the woman - Paige (the excellent Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald), a doctor who helps with understanding his mum’s condition.
There are some very funny running jokes like Victor’s interactions with the other disturbed geriatric ‘inmates’ at his mum’s hospital, his fellow sex addicts, and a scene where he hooks up with a woman keen for him to play the pivotal role in her latest rape fantasy!
Victor with doctor Paige
Choke is never boring, though it does lacks visual flair, being shot in a flat, conventional manner by Gregg on what was obviously a restricted budget. It does justice to Palahniuk’s novel however and at a perfect 85 minutes it’s worth a look for fans of the novel and Rockwell especially.
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Comment by David O'Connell
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I'm not overly exited about Palahniuk as a writer either Cib, I tried to read Survivor not so long ago and gave up after 30 or 40 pages.
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Good review.
Michaelie
Comment by Daniel Mason
So while I was not particularly enthused with Choke as a novel, I do like Sam Rockwell and I think the material could make for a more interesting film than book. I'd wait for it on DVD, though. Spending money to see a mere 85-minute feature in the cinema makes no sense to me.
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Hey Daniel, I've found Palahniuk hard going too. Choke was a struggle at times and I haven't tried anything else since Survivor which I tossed aside.
I've never read Fight Club but love the film and have always wondered about it. I'm sure I'll read it some day. He writing does generally feel deliberately provocative and showy at times, a little too clever for its own good.
Comment by Daniel Mason