As the shit hits the fan on Wall St., a more gradual, but equally serious shake-up is happening in the world of independent film. Paul shares stories from Independent Film Week, a tumultuous clash of ideas about what the future of cinema sans Hollywood will look like.
Karina checks in to tell us about Fantastic Fest. Along with alcohol, karaoke, and BBQ, she’s enjoyed the films Cargo 200 and Ex Drummer.
Choke, the new film based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), comes out tonight. Is this Sundance alum truly provocative cinema, or just the same old thing with some extra sex thrown in?
Chuck Palahniuk, the author behind David Fincher’s Fight Club and Clark Gregg’s Choke, opening in theaters this Friday 9/26, pens intelligent, well-written junk food. I enjoy reading all his books, and even have a friend I nicknamed Brandy Alexander after the transgender lead character in Invisible Monsters, yet whenever someone asks me the plot of a particular novel that isn’t Invisible Monsters, I draw a blank. I mean, I’m certain I’ve read his books, just like I’m certain I ate dinner last Thursday, I just can’t tell you exactly what it was.
So when I learned I had an email interview with the author himself scheduled I had to dig out my old copy of Choke and check the jacket. Ah, sex addicts who work at a fake Colonial village – how could I have forgotten? No matter. The writing is terrific. Palahniuk might be able to shed some light on the grander themes he seems to be addressing, from numb consumer culture to transgender issues to the difference between nonfiction “truth” versus “truth” in fiction, I reasoned.
You see, I just couldn’t accept Choke on the same terms as a piece of well-made but empty entertainment like The Scorpion King, which worked because it didn’t overreach beyond what was necessary, tailored the script specifically to The Rock’s charming, self-deprecating personality and nothing more. I wanted to know why I always felt an important statement about society was being made in Palahniuk’s books.
But after finally interviewing the author I got a strong sense that his working method is more akin to that of the car mechanic he was for years. As a writer he seems to take the same sort of Meyerhold biomechanics approach (“I saw a bear, I ran, I was afraid”) that I learned in acting school. In other words, through the physical, mechanical act of writing – and not reflection – he gets at a deeper truth. Which is deep in itself. Now if only I could remember what Rant was about…
I knew the whole red-band fad would come to this: Fox Searchlight is promoting the latest trailer for its Sundance-pickup Choke as “the raunchiest red-band trailer EVER.” Well, I don’t know if I agree with the statement — maybe if Fox hadn’t censored the sex scenes with “Big Screen Only” banners — but something about this latest spot makes me more interested in the film. Could it be the nudity? Or the swearing? Or maybe it’s simply the greater exposure to the coarseness we’ve come to expect from Sam Rockwell. And here he appears more depraved than usual.
On the film’s adults-only website (also available to kids who know how to pick the age-restriction locks), there are also four new promotional videos featuring strippers reading passages from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, on which the movie is based. They’re pretty funny if you’re still into the dumb stripper stereotype (I prefer the smart MENSA strippers/porn stars like Asia Carrera, of course). Also on the site, you can kinda learn how to do the Heimlich Maneuver.
Choke won a Special Jury Prize for its ensemble cast (including my current celebrity crush, Kelly Macdonald) at Sundance this past January. It opens in theaters nationwide September 26.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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