Choke
Choke premiered in Januray, at the Sundance Film Festival. Based on a book by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), Choke deals unflinchingly and humorously with the topics of sexual addiction, compulsive behaviour, compassion and acceptance.
The explicitness of the film may deter some viewers, but those who aren’t put off by the frank sexual content may enjoy this relatively low-budget, independently made feature, that bears a striking resemblance to the television show “My Name Is Earl”, with its cast of lovable rogues, and themes of redemption.
The main character Victor Mancini is initially unappealing but turns out to be quite likeable and decent. Like Earl, he has lived most of his life on the wrong side of the law, and even has a large galloot of an off-sider: a friend and fellow sex addict, Denny (Brad William Henke).
Together, they work in a historical theme park, under the supervision of an employee who takes his historical role playing far too seriously (with humorous results), and who resents Victor and Denny’s easy-going approach.
Meanwhile, Victor’s mother Ida (Angelica Houston) is in permanent hospital care, due to her advancing dementia. To fund his mother’s hospital care, Victor relies on conning money from strangers. The nature of the con has deeply symbolic roots, as we discover during flashbacks of his childhood.
There are some interesting dualities at work in this film: the puritan settlers vs the sexual addicts, the protestant work ethic of the early settlers compared with the con artists, and the gradual attainment of insight contrasted with the dulling of the mind that results from dementia.
Choke is more vulgar than it needed to be, but there are some real laughs to be had if you can get your mind around the base content.