Choke-From The Author of Fight Club

Chokewas written by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club, and the film made from that book has that same kind of slightly alternate world view.  Choke is the story of Victor Mancini and his multi-faceted life as a sex addict, an Historical Reenactor, a son, a friend, and a con artist. When we meet Victor he is at a Sex Addicts meeting and instantly hooks up with one of the women in the support group.

Our hero, such as he is, works at a place that looks like Williamsburg, Virginia-one those spots where everyone dresses up like it’s 1750 and talks with a lot Ma Lords and Ma Ladys. He works there with his big doofus friend, who is also a sort of sex addict as he can’t stop masturbating. These two don’t really fit in well with the Colonial lifestyle and are always on the verge of being banished from the community.

Victor’s mother is a bit insane and lives in a mental hospital. She is played by Angelica Huston, who always looks a little nuts anyway. As Victor walks around the hospital, we get flashes of him having sex with every female member of the hospital staff. He also seems to have charmed all of the mad women that live in the hospital as well, but most of them are old and he has no interest in having sex with them. Though he does still imagine them naked, so who knows. His mother doesn’t know who Victor is and always confuses him with a dead lawyer.

There are also flashbacks of Victor’s childhood on the run with his insane mother. She seems happy enough, but Victor is not all that happy as his meals are often things like corn dogs and snow cones. He wants to be rescued, but his mother always manages to find him and steal him from his foster homes.

A good deal into the film, we find Victor and his buddy eating at a restaurant, where he looks around and then pops a very large piece of food into his mouth. He them proceeds to choke-and this does not seem to be an act, he is actually choking-until someone steps forward and gives him the Heimlich Maneuver and saves his life. This is one of the ways he makes money, by keeping in touch with his saviors and asking them for money. This odd bit of business is a pretty small part of the story, but there are a couple of funny bits about it.

The funniest part of Choke for me was when Victor uses a hook up website to find a one night stand. The woman he meets wants him to rape her, but in a very controlled and specific way. Not on the bed, as the cover is silk, not on the carpet, as it might get stained, but on a towel that is one the floor, just in case a rapist shows up-wearing a nylon over his head and carrying a knife. Victor is not that good at role playing.

Victor meets a new doctor at his mother’s hospital and the two of them hit it-she has this idea for a radical treatment that requires Victor impregnating her as soon as possible. Victor says ok, but can’t seem to do the deed.

Along the way Victor discovers that he is the half clone of Jesus Christ, which seems to explain a few things. More and more strange things happen to Victor, and in the end, he seems to have finally gotten his feet in the ground.

Choke was a funny, quirky, and sometimes sad bit of business. It was not as good as Fight Club, but then, few films are.

---