From Omeleto.
An amateur wrestler gets a chance.
CHOKE HOLD is used with permission from Max McGillivray. Learn more at https://maxmcgillivray.com.
Brendon is a young man living in North Carolina, where he aspires to be a professional wrestler. He trains hard and practices in his backyard, filming himself as "The Real Deal," complete with his infamous finishing move, the "Camaro crash." He has amassed a loyal following on YouTube, but he has yet to break into the professional arena.
Time is running out on his dream. His loyal friend Skinny gets Brendan a job at a local used car sales lot, where he can succeed. But just as Brendan is about to give up on wrestling, he gets a prized opportunity at a promotion — and bets it all on his big shot, determined to succeed at almost any cost.
Directed and written by Max McGillivray, this propulsive short drama has the compelling power that comes from having a complex, driven character at its heart, with a story brought to life with rough-hewn and dynamic visuals, taut performances and a sure-handed sense of dramatic impact. Brendan is a focused, even obsessive athlete, aiming for greatness but mired in a milieu of mediocrity, and as he strives and powers toward his goal, the narrative becomes a darkly explosive study of an underdog’s obsession and ambition in the hothouse world of backyard wrestling.
Opening with Brendan’s appeal for a spot at an upcoming bout, we then shift to his job washing cars at the lot, where he turns down a job to sell cars because he doesn’t want to compromise his training. The visuals frame him in slightly askew ways at times, seating him uneasily in his world. It also gives us a sense of his isolated singularity, alienated from the larger world with his focus and even from the professional world, where he’s looked down upon as a "yarder." Even as his friend Skinny moves on from their hobby, Brendan appears stuck and perhaps delusional.
The storytelling is richly well-developed, building Brendan’s world and character. But as we watch his story play out, Brendan’s obsessiveness, as well as an encroaching sense of desperation, often turns possibilities into self-sabotage. He could be good at selling cars, but the dangling carrot of a wrestling opportunity causes him to burn his bridges at the job in spectacular fashion. Actor Justin McEneny’s intense performance as Brendan gets at the intensity and passion of his focus, expressed admirably in his hard work but more problematically as a lack of regard for anything else. When he enters the ring of his big opportunity, he thinks he has nothing more to lose — but he might just be proven wrong.
Like many great sports dramas, CHOKE HOLD winnows down to one final event, with high stakes and emotion intertwined together into a maelstrom of almost operatic drama and spectacle. Shot with a muscularity that captures the grind and punishing impact of each hold and move, the match also propels Brendan into his strongest choice as a character — one final bet on himself and a desperate need to make it matter if it’s his last. By the film’s gripping end, with its evocative final image, we’re not sure if the conclusion is a good or bad thing for Brendan’s future, leaving him as focused and relentless as ever.
