Choking Man (2006)

48% of critics liked it
(33 reviews)
47% of users liked it
(621 ratings)

A man finds himself caught between several worlds -- rough real life and a number of parallel fantasy lands -- in this blend of drama and fantasy. Jorge (Octavio Gómez Berríos) is a painfully shy young man from Ecuador who has immigrated to the United States. Jorge keeps body and soul together by… More A man finds himself caught between several worlds -- rough real life and a number of parallel fantasy lands -- in this blend of drama and fantasy. Jorge (Octavio Gómez Berríos) is a painfully shy young man from Ecuador who has immigrated to the United States. Jorge keeps body and soul together by washing dishes at a greasy-spoon diner in a Queens, NY neighborhood that's dominated by a wide variety of fellow immigrants. Jorge spends most of his days at work being harassed by Rick (Mandy Patinkin), the diner's owner, and loud-mouthed manager Jerry (Aaron Paul). One of the only people at the diner who shows any kindness to Jorge is Amy (Eugenia Yuan), an Asian waitress, and Jorge has become deeply infatuated with her. However, Jerry also has his eyes on Amy, only adding to the tension between him and Jorge. As Jorge struggles to escape his grim circumstances, he passes into a variety of alternate realities, ranging from a pastel-colored wonderland ruled by animated bunnies to a grassy sylvan landscape past a fence. Choking Man was written and directed by Steve Barron, best known for his groundbreaking work in music videos; the film received its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 24 min.
Directed By: Steve Barron
Written By: Steve Barron
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Feb 20, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Aug 5, 2008
Studio: IFC

Critic Reviews

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Overburdened with disorienting stylistic devices and contrived plot elements that reduce the psychological depth to which it aspires.
Tasha Robinson, Chicago Tribune
In this case, what looks like an ambitious film-school project, complete with heavy-handed sincerity, experimental camera style, and an overplayed central metaphor, becomes gently lyrical and melancholy.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Barron's direction is low-key but efficient.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
The movie suffocates under the weight of too many wrong choices.
Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
Choking Man mainly falters in its inability to reconcile the darker psychological elements of Jorge's mind and all that they portend.
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times
Choking Man is harsh and intermittently affecting but oppressively contrived and mostly pointless.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Low-key indie.
Anton Bitel, Little White Lies
For all its concern with social and mental disintegration, Choking Man is a strangely tender film.
, Empire Magazine
Despite efforts to impart a little tension and human interest, the tale is told with such discretion, it's almost anonymous.
Tom Huddlestone, Time Out
There's a low-key New York drama lurking somewhere, but Barron can't seem to decide if he's making that or something more flashy.
Trevor Johnston, Film4
There's enough charm and enterprise here to win over viewers who have the patience to stick by the tongue-tied Jorge. An intriguing change of direction for pop-video pioneer Barron, though next time he might like to cut loose that bit more.
James Christopher, Times [UK]
The creepy and original power of the film is the schizophrenic other who taunts him when he finally crawls home to his maggoty bedsit. Weird.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Some US indie films are so torpid, so pointless and so incredibly whingey that you want to reach into the screen and slap the face of everyone involved. This film, by writer-director Steve Barron, is one such.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
The film marries digicam naturalism to animated fantasy to oddsome but fascinating effect, rendering magical the inner world of the shy and almost muted Jorge. It's an unusual but valuable addition to the cinema of contemporary migration.
Tim Evans, Sky Movies
It's all a bit anonymous despite engaging performances, especially from Yuan as the sunny optimist, but the character of Jorge is so cripplingly introverted that there's nothing to latch on to.
, Total Film
Steve Barron's darkly melancholic, low-budget drama is worlds away from the blockbuster swagger of his earlier Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Christopher Tookey, Daily Mail [UK]
They don't add up to much; and he's just too passive to make us care even slightly about whether he gets the girl or ends up taking a meat-cleaver to his rival.
, Sun Online
After more than an hour in Jorge's relentlessly miserable company the voice in The Sneak's head was saying "leave now".
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
Modest, quirky, well acted by an unknown cast.
Anthony Quinn, Independent
It's meant to be a portrait of a man "choked" by his own alienation, but Jorge's shyness comes over as dullness, and after all the sensitive maundering the conclusion is a terrible letdown.

Read all 23 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

El Hombre I

The patiently-paced film is meant to draw us into the small community of people who work at a diner, and "touching moments" where these characters connect, are more the style than any kind of a "thriller" theme. In any case, overall it's a high quality film… More
The patiently-paced film is meant to draw us into the small community of people who work at a diner, and "touching moments" where these characters connect, are more the style than any kind of a "thriller" theme. In any case, overall it's a high quality film and well worth seeing if you get the chance, but you won't be missing much if you don't.