"Choke"

[Ralph]

Directed by Clark Gregg, "Choke" is a comedy with a dark overtone. Sam Rockwell is Victor Mancini, a guide at a pseudo-Williamsburg colonial village, who is also a true sex addict. He is in a twelve-step group but his participation seems to be mostly in wild quickies with other less than stable group members. He regularly visits his mom, Ida, brilliantly played by Anjelica Huston, in an extended care facility. She is sliding deeper into Alzheimer's or some equivalent and misidentifies Victor as a lawyer she may or may not have once known.

Victor meets a beautiful young doctor, new to the staff, Paige Marshall. She's played by the outstanding young actress Kelly McDonald who is slowly moving up the cinema ladder. Victor needs to unlock his mom's memory and tell him who his father is and Marshall comes up with a truly weird scheme to achieve that. There are a number of flashbacks to Victor's childhood that hint at part of his strange background.

Much of "Choke" is zany - the title comes from Victor's practiced scam to pretend to nearly asphyxiate on food in sundry restaurants in the expectation that he can fleece gullible rescuers. But there's a serious undercurrent and the balance between daffy denizens of the facility and Ida's mental wanderings reflects the innate sadness of such living arrangements.

There's probably little funny about true sex addiction, a psychological illness that cripples more than it pleasures. But the lines come quickly here and suspension of belief helps to make "Choke" a quirky and different kind of story.

[stenka razin]

Ralph, if Kelly McDonald is in this film, I will go to see it. Ever since seeing the wonderful Scottish actress in 'The Girl In The Cafe', I have been a fan of hers. She was also in 'No Country For Old Men'. Thanks for the tip.