Choking Man review

Bleak insight into the mind of an immigrant restaurant worker

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Steve Barron’s darkly melancholic, low-budget drama is worlds away from the blockbuster swagger of his earlier Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A Heimlich Manoeuvre poster casts a shadow over the everyday routine of morbidly shy Ecuadorian dishwasher Jorge (Octavio Gómez).

His daily grind in a dingy Queens diner sees him bullied by co-worker Jerry (Aaron Paul) and nursing an obsession for the new waitress (Eugenia Yuan). The choking motif neatly expresses the suffocating agony of immigrant displacement, while elegant animation takes us inside Jorge’s mind.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.