Bumblebee
Mary Poppins Returns
Halloween
Outlander
Log in with Facebook
OR
By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango.
Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password.
Critics Consensus: Quirky animated interludes fail to lift this dull US immigrant indie out of its introverted torpid state.
Critic Consensus: Quirky animated interludes fail to lift this dull US immigrant indie out of its introverted torpid state.
All Critics (34) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (17) | DVD (1)
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.
Overburdened with disorienting stylistic devices and contrived plot elements that reduce the psychological depth to which it aspires.
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.
Barron's direction is low-key but efficient.
The movie suffocates under the weight of too many wrong choices.
Choking Man mainly falters in its inability to reconcile the darker psychological elements of Jorge's mind and all that they portend.
Low-key indie.
For all its concern with social and mental disintegration, Choking Man is a strangely tender film.
Despite efforts to impart a little tension and human interest, the tale is told with such discretion, it's almost anonymous.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Super Reviewer
There are no approved quotes yet for this movie.
View All