Sydney Film Festival 2008 – Choke Review
Choke is the first adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk novel since the wildly popular (and incredibly misunderstood – ask me about it sometime) Fight Club directed by (the absolute GENIUS) David Fincher. Choke is the story of a medical school dropout who works in a historical theme park by day whilst by night choking in fancy restaurants in order to be saved (and financially aided) by strangers. It’s a touching story of sex addict meetings, depravity, deceit and a confused man trying to take care of his sick mother.
We saw Choke this evening and I’ve been looking forward to it for a while. I’m a fan of Palahniuk’s work and was curious to see how this one would turn out. I was even more thrilled when we were told before the screening that before the studio would agree to allow the film to be shown at the festival, the organisers had to agree to allow spotters with night-vision goggles to scan the crowd constantly to make sure that nobody was recording a bootleg, pirated version.
The exceptionally talented Sam Rockwell gives a great performance as Victor Mancini and brings to life all of the nuances you’d expect such a depraved and conflicted character to have. I have to warn you that this movie is not for the sensitive or squeamish. The subject matter mentioned is prominent in the story and central to the character and plot development. If you’re not comfortable with detailed conversations about sexual misdeeds and the like, then this isn’t going to be your cup of tea.
Bearing that in mind, Choke is funny. Really seriously funny. There’s a real tenderness and humanity at the centre of this movie that may surprise viewers expecting to see something similar to Fight Club. Don’t get me wrong, the hallmark characteristics of Palahniuk’s work are present and can’t be missed, but this is not Fight Club II. Rockwell is backed up by excellent performances from Anjelica Huston (his mother), Kelly Macdonald (the love interest) and Brad William Henke (his best friend).
For the most part, writer/director/actor Clark Gregg does an excellent job with the source material. His adaptation is faithful to Palahniuk’s book in spirit and in almost all details. That said, I found myself infuriated by the omission of an important plot point late in the film. It had been adequately set up early in the movie, was primed to be revealed and then just wasn’t there. It would have added no more than three minutes to an already brief 89 minute movie. In fact, the entire third act felt rushed to me. It really looked to me like some idiot studio executive had seen the director’s original cut and demanded that the movie be made seven minutes shorter so that it came in under the 90 minute mark. For me, this was a major blight on what had been a near perfect film experience.
To be fair, most audience members probably wouldn’t care as much and many may not even notice, but I tend to think that when you cut out the climactic elements directly related to the title of the film, you’re kind of screwing the audience. I didn’t appreciate being screwed. I’ll be very curious to get a look at a “Director’s Cut” that I’m sure will come out on DVD to correct this blunder.
In the end, if you’re interested in Palahniuk’s work or even like the sound of Choke, this is a very good movie. Unfortunately, somebody screwed the final act up a bit and it’s not as good a movie as it should be.
Just to let you know, this is not the first Chuck Palahnuik novel to be turned into a movie since Fight Club… Stranger Than Fiction was written by Palahnuik as well.
Erm, according to the official Chuck Palahniuk website Stranger Than Fiction is a collection of his non-fiction pieces and I’m pretty sure it bears no real resemblance to the movie of the same name.
I could be mistaken, but in the opening credits of the movie, it says based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk.
No it does say that at the start of the movie, but it’s a joke. Read the book. Honestly, they’ve got nothing to do with each other.