Choke

I tend to post film reviews when I think that there's a really good film out there you shouldn't miss, and this is no exception.

Choke is directed by Clark Gregg, and I would be lying if I said that the main reason I wanted to see this was anything other than the fact that he directed Fight Club, which again was taken from a Chuck Palahniuk novel. I'll admit to never having read either Fight Club or Choke, so I can't compare this film to the book, but I'm going to seek it out anyway. The various reviews I've read have said that the two are fairly different.

So anyway, Choke focuses on Victor, (Sam Rockwell) a smart, sex addicted bachelor who devotes a large portion of his life to looking after his mother Ida (Angelica Houston) who has severe mental problems, and nine times out of ten doesn't realise it is he who is visting, calling him by the name of family friends or the family lawyer. He and his best friend Denny (Brad William Henke) work in a medieval theme park as tour guides, although he stresses they aren't just tour guides on several occasions. The film focuses on him trying to find the identity of his father, and trying to raise money to keep his mother in a decent facility. He does this by going to restaurants, and pretending to choke on his food. Whoever then saves him is a friend for life - and will send him cash when he mentions an ailment in order to 'relive the saviour experience'. He meets Paige (Kelly MacDonald), his mother's doctor, and everything starts to go a bit pear shaped when he realises she might be more than just a one off.

It's really, really funny. It's not as smutty as it could have been, thankfully. It's an interesting look at sex addiction too - several times he looks at women who are blatantly unattractive and sees them naked in a blink, and his expression remains completely neutral. Sam Rockwell is really, really good at being pretty hopeless and exasperated by everything. Angelica Houston is, always, fantastic. And alarmingly attractive in scenes where Victor flashes back to his troubled childhood. Brad William Henke is again, really good as the big, amiable oaf who shares Victor's sex addiction but is working through it far better than Victor is. Kelly MacDonald is sweet, but I was really unusre of where her accent was meant to be from. She's still really good.

The best part of this film is the balance it strikes between humour and really touching scenes which will make you think. There's one scene in particular with Victor and Ida which is really well done. The flashbacks to his childhood are pretty harsh - it's clear just how insane his mother truly was, as she breaks into zoos and steals him from his foster parents.

It's a really consistent film - there's a couple of standout scenes (If you do go, chocolate pudding and enough said) but it's just quite funny all the way through. I found myself laughing a lot, but not to the point where I was in tears. I found myself almost crying at some of the more touching scenes, but something humourous always happened too quickly for it to be too sad. So it never quite reaches the extremes, but I think that is, in this case, a good thing.

It's not got the 'wow' factor of Fight Club, but it's still a really good film that you shouldn't miss.

Choke is out now.

[convectuoso]

Decent, but Clark Gregg wishes he directed Fight Club - the direction was the poorest aspect of this movie. David Fincher is the genius behind Fight Club, the two are incomparable.

Movie was great, but had a weak ending.

[Jushin Liger]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251637/ is better

[Bunnylingus]

Oops.

Could you change that please?

Internet lied to me.

Originally Posted by convectuoso

Decent, but Clark Gregg wishes he directed Fight Club - the direction was the poorest aspect of this movie. David Fincher is the genius behind Fight Club, the two are incomparable.

Movie was great, but had a weak ending.

D'oh, I googled it and it came up with him.

I liked the ending, espescially the bit with the bead, which I had totally forgotten about

[Jenpot]

Great book, great movie. Nothing like Fight Club and it shouldn't be either. A lot of movie magazines/reviews are giving it three stars based on the fact that "it doesn't have the edge of Fight Club". Bollocks. For one thing, Fight Club was written in a really nihilistic way whereas I always found Choke to be more apathetic in tone. On top of that, David Fincher has a completely different style to Clark Gregg and i still don't think Fincher would've been suited to the movie.

Anyway. Rant (hah) over. I loved it. Brilliantly adapted, stuck to the book very well and the casting was perfect.

[Bunnylingus]

I loved it too, my point was that they're different but amazing in different ways.

I'm in love with Angelica Houston.

[Jenpot]

Originally Posted by Bunnylingus

I loved it too, my point was that they're different but amazing in different ways.

I'm in love with Angelica Houston.

Sorry Rach, that wasn't a rant at you, it was aimed more in the direction of Total Film.

Houston is brilliant in it. I well thought they were going to make his mother *too* crazy. I'm not sure that even makes sense, but it does in my head.

[Bunnylingus]

Haha nah it's cool. I read a few like that too and thought it was a shame because they're completely different films.

Books worth getting then?

It makes sense. Its like, she acts totally sane apart from she's calling him the totally wrong name. And when he's a kid, of course.

[Jenpot]

Yep, I'll lend you it if you like?

[Bunnylingus]

Aww that'd be ace, cheers

[CHUCK LIDELOL]

Choke on your selfish pride.

[convectuoso]

Originally Posted by Bunnylingus

Oops.

Could you change that please?

Internet lied to me.



D'oh, I googled it and it came up with him.

I liked the ending, espescially the bit with the bead, which I had totally forgotten about

That bit was great, I meant literally the very end, on the plane. Here, who else spotted the Chuck Palahniuk cameo? Sat next to Victor on the plane as Radiohead starts.

It is completely different to Fight Club, as is the book (both books demand to be read but, excellent stuff). However, Chuck has a pretty interesting interpretation of the relationship between the two:

Originally Posted by Chuck Palahniuk

In a way, I saw it as sort of the second half of "Fight Club." I wanted to show "Fight Club" at the end of Tyler Durden's life, and I wanted to show a character attaining the ability to create his own reality and his own identity -- instead of external circumstances always dictating who he was going to be and the world he was going to live in. So "Choke" is sort of the second half of what "Fight Club" started.

Which to me, pretty much sums up the differences between the two.

[Jenpot]

Originally Posted by convectuoso

"In a way, I saw it as sort of the second half of "Fight Club." I wanted to show "Fight Club" at the end of Tyler Durden's life, and I wanted to show a character attaining the ability to create his own reality and his own identity -- instead of external circumstances always dictating who he was going to be and the world he was going to live in. So "Choke" is sort of the second half of what "Fight Club" started."
Which to me, pretty much sums up the differences between the two.

I completely agree with this aswell, i think if you watch/read them one after the other it'd be easy to see it that way. It's like Fight Club but really..toned down, for lack of a better expression.

Originally Posted by Bunnylingus

Aww that'd be ace, cheers

No worries love, you out this weekend at all? You should read Lullaby, it's better than Choke and Fight Club. Totally insane, but better.

[Bunnylingus]

Nice.

Ah, I like the ending on the plane. Was kinda predictable, but made me smile.

[Bunnylingus]

Originally Posted by Jenpot

No worries love, you out this weekend at all? You should read Lullaby, it's better than Choke and Fight Club. Totally insane, but better.

yessum, Saturday methinks.

Mayyyybe thursday.