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      Choking Man

      Released Nov 9, 2007 1h 24m Drama List
      52% 33 Reviews Tomatometer 37% 500+ Ratings Audience Score Ecuadorian immigrant Jorge (Octavio Gómez Berrios) makes a meager living scrubbing dishes in a Queens, N.Y. diner. Constantly harassed by the restaurant's overbearing manager, Jerry (Aaron Paul), Jorge yearns for romance with the new waitress, Amy (Eugenia Yuan). But he's hampered by his severe shyness and the fact that Jerry's also interested in her. While working his life away and dying on the inside, Jorge escapes to a series of vividly imagined fantasy worlds. Read More Read Less
      Choking Man

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      Critics Consensus

      Quirky animated interludes fail to lift this dull US immigrant indie out of its introverted torpid state.

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      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Eugenia Yuan is great as always. The rest of the story is too dull. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member By no means is this the worst film that I have ever seen; it is, however, on a long list of terrible films that I have seen. Every character in this film suffers from a, really bad & persistent, form of stupidity. To describe Jorge, the main character & clearly the worst character in the film, as morbidly shy is a morbidly understated description of the character. He obviously suffers from some sort of delusional paranoia, immensely afraid of everything, the shyness being the one aspect of his personality that is the most apparent. For Jorge to be the main character in this film the writer(s) and/or director(s) of this film must have suffered from some form of brain-death. I half expected the movie to introduce a subplot about a case worker that got Jorge the job at the diner, through some sort of a state-funded program that tries to make retards self-sufficient by getting them jobs. At the same time, I was hoping that his `roommate` would do him in; sort of a suicide by proxy... The only thing worth a damn in the entire film is the character Amy. While every character in the film suffers, at the very least, from some form of stupidity, she's the only really likable character. I borrowed it from my local library and I did so bc I had heard a couple of good things about one of the production companies that worked on the film; Ghost Robot has only done one other movie that I have seen and it, Cropsey, was, truly, an excellent film. I was hoping that the intelligence that went into that film would have been instilled into this one as well. The dvd extra's may actually end up being the best thing about this film. Overall, a waste of my time. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Tim C Atmospheric piece with some nice moments but ends up going nowhere and saying nothing. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 05/16/13 Full Review Audience Member Liked the music, acting of female lead - LOVED, and the stories, but still didn't quite get the story line thread... Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member pas mal de bonnes idees pour ce petit film drôle et tendre. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Slow to unfold and not much payoff for sticking with it, but some really unique and interesting animation. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Choking Man

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      Critics Reviews

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      Hank Sartin Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 18, 2011 Full Review Anton Bitel Little White Lies For all its concern with social and mental disintegration, Choking Man is a strangely tender film. Nov 16, 2008 Full Review Empire Magazine Despite efforts to impart a little tension and human interest, the tale is told with such discretion, it's almost anonymous. Rated: 2/5 Nov 14, 2008 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Low-key indie. Rated: B Jul 9, 2009 Full Review 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. Rated: 3/5 Nov 14, 2008 Full Review Tim Evans Sky Cinema 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. Rated: 2/5 Nov 14, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Ecuadorian immigrant Jorge (Octavio Gómez Berrios) makes a meager living scrubbing dishes in a Queens, N.Y. diner. Constantly harassed by the restaurant's overbearing manager, Jerry (Aaron Paul), Jorge yearns for romance with the new waitress, Amy (Eugenia Yuan). But he's hampered by his severe shyness and the fact that Jerry's also interested in her. While working his life away and dying on the inside, Jorge escapes to a series of vividly imagined fantasy worlds.
      Director
      Steve Barron
      Screenwriter
      Steve Barron
      Distributor
      International Film Circuit [us]
      Production Co
      Ghost Robot
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Nov 9, 2007, Limited
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Mar 20, 2017
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $4.2K
      Runtime
      1h 24m