Review of Choke (2008) by Holt T — 28 Jun 2009

Choke starts out strong and progressively collapses on itself by films end. Not to say I didn't enjoy Choke because I did. I thought it was darkly charming in a twisted perverted sort of way and that is one place where the Choke truly succeeds along with great casting choices including Sam Rockwell and Angelica Huston.

The film follows Victor (Rockwell) who is a recovering asshole sex addict, although he just uses that as an excuse to meet others with the same problem. Victor is sort of a drifter who in order to pay for his mothers hospital care he devises a plan to choke on food and live off the cheques given to him by people who save him.

I don't know how that works but oh well. The lens is fixed on Rockwell who does not dissapoint as the egocentric sex-o-phile. He may seem dry to some and humorously dry to others. I was the latter.

Huston delievers in probably one of her last roles ever. Mrs. Huston has pulled off quite an amazing movie career with her abstract choices in film. From playing Mrs. Addams to the Evil high witch in The Witches and appearing in offbeat films like The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and The Royal Tennenbaums, she always seems to find something that is creativly odd and fun.

Huston is the obvious choice for something as quirky as Choke However the jokes are so low brow that not everyone will be able to injest the humour throughout. In saying that Choke is not for everyone and it does lose steam during the last act, but I enjoyed it for its darkly comic wit.