Chocolate (2008) Review
April 26th 2010 17:35
A strange phenomenon in other countries is the need for a movie to be
an action film, no matter how otherwise touching it's meant to be. Mui-thai fight scenes are are natural to Thai films as lighting, it doesn't matter if your making a drama (The Letter) , a comedy (The Holy Man) , a sci-fi film (Mercury Man) or even a film about transvestites (The Adventures of Iron Pussy) your absolutely NEED Mui-Thai fight scenes to make a movie watchable. With the rise to stardom of Tony Jaa, other martial arts such as Tai-kwon-do and Capoeira are being welcomed into Thai theaters, but nonetheless fight scenes are an absolute stable of the country's cinema.
Enter the touching, tear jerking action film Chocolate, released in Thailand in 2008 and unleashed on the American DVD and blue-ray market the year after. In the midst of negotiations between the Yakuza, and the Thai Mafia, Yakuza enforcer Masashi falls in love with Zin, the Thai boss's girlfriend. The two have a brief romance, and marry but the wily Mob boss find out about this forbidden marriage and Masashi is forbidden from seeing his wife and sent back to Tokyo, and Zin is forced to raise their child alone. The child Zen grows up next to a Mui-Thai school, and spending her time at home playing video games and watching martial arts films (In the Thai cut this includes Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies, but due to copyrights in the American cut it's only Tony Jaa films) as well as watching the Mui-thai school next door. Her autism allows her to assimilate these skills, thanks to her heightened senses and constant physical training, she become a formidable fighter. When her Zin contracts cancer, Zen goes on a martial arts rampage to collect the money needed for her treatment from old Mob contacts who sill owed her money. Of course, this stirs up Zin's old mafia cronies to fight back, and even prompted Zen's Yakuza father to come into the picture to reclaim his daughter.
Chocolate promised to help Tony Jaa Fanatics get their fix while they waited for his next movie to come stateside. Even though she was advertise as featuring the “Female Tony Jaa” Yanin Vismitananda, this 26 year old Karate champion turned action film starlet doesn't manage to capture the same ferocity that made Jaa's films classic. This is't to say Chocolate isn't an amazing martial arts film, The fight scenes are fast paced and brutal, and Yanin does have her own style that's gracful and fun to watch. The last 25 minutes of the movie is pure, non-stop action that ends the engrossing story with the Zen's family united, and fighting side by side. While the action still pales in comparison to the work of Tony Jaa, the story alone will have you cheering Zen on from beginning to end. The films depiction of autism is also very accurate, you feel the filmmakers had real respect for those with mental disabilities as they don't poke fun at her condition, depicting Zen with dignity and real heart.
While the movie never had an American theatrical release, it's done well
on the video market, enthralling both Jaa fans and martial arts movie fans in general. It did suffer licensing problems, in the original cut Zen's fights almost mirrored fight scenes from Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, going so far as to have a split screen showing her doing the same moves as Lee and Chan. However, the rights couldn't even be procured in Thailand (Surprising since copyright laws barely exist in that country) so the split screen was cut, as well as any movies that looked to much like Chan or Lee's. We may never see these full expanded fight scenes, but what remains is still one of the best Martial Arts films I've ever seen. Yanin Vismitananda certainly has what it takes to become a martial arts superstar. Even if it isn't meant to be, We'll always have Chocolate.
She's a sweet as chocolate, but deadly as . . uh . . .really hard chocolate, or somthing
While the movie never had an American theatrical release, it's done well
Our Heroine is both adorable and deadly, is she our next Martial arts superstar?
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