A couple nights ago, I managed to remove a movie from the top of my Movies I Need To See Right Goddamn Now list: Prachya Pinkaew's film, Chocolate.



Chocolate is the third Pinkaew film I've seen, following the Tony Jaa films Ong Bak and The Protector (aka Tom Yum Goong). Just like those films, Chocolate is fight porn and I LOVE it. There isn't a whole lot in the way of interesting plot or dialogue and what there is is really just a vehicle to move from action sequence to action sequence, although it seems like they're trying sometimes.

The film starts out with the story of a romance between a Japanese Yakuza member operating in Thailand and a woman who is "with" a Thai mob boss. When the Thai mob boss finds out that his woman has been sleeping with the enemy/competition/some other dude, he gets a little pissed off and decides to pay a visit to Mr. Yakuza. He kills off all of Mr. Yakuza's henchmen, but doesn't get a chance to kill Mr Yakuza because his lady love steps in front of the gun. Rather than kill the woman he loves to get at her lover, he tells them to get the fuck out of his territory (basically) and that if he ever sees them together again, or hears that they've been seen together, he'll kill them both. The two leave and spend one last night together before Mr Yakuza goes back to Japan so as not to die horribly (although both he and the Thai mob boss come back into the movie later).

Fast forward a bit and the lady is pregnant. Fast forward a little bit more and we find out that the baby she had was a girl and the girl is somewhat mentally handicapped. Fast forward a little bit more again and we see the girl, named Zen, is a teenager, who seems to be able to catch anything that is thrown at her from any angle and seems to love Tony Jaa movies. I read somewhere that she's supposed to be watching Bruce Lee movies, but anytime you actually see the screen she's watching, it's Tony Jaa. There is one scene where you see her watching something that sounds like a Bruce Lee movie (lots of his trademark "whaaaaaa" sounds), but you never actually see Bruce. I dunno.

Anyway, fast forward one more time and we find out that Zen's mom has cancer and doesn't have enough money for treatment. Things are rough. Luckily, Zen and her one friend find mom's little black book that just happens to have a list of people who owe mom money. The two kids decide to go ask these people for the money they owe. These people are, of course, naughty and Zen is forced to unleash some unholy whoopass upon them in order to get money to help her mom.

And then the movie that you've been waiting for finally begins.



It's almost a full 15 minutes before you finally get to see Zen kick someone in the head. I'm not going to say that that almost 15 minutes was painful or even difficult, but I will say that plot development and backstory are not the strengths of this film. Maybe it was meant to be like delayed gratification? I don't know. I want to say that the non-action parts of this film were not as bad as those parts in the previous two Pinkaew movies, but it's been a while since I watched them and I could be biased. Once we finally see Zen grown up and being played by Jeeja Yanin, things immediately begin to look up, even before the ass kicking begins.

Chocolate is Jeeja Yanin's film debut and if it's any indication, this lady is the Next Big Thing. In addition to being an amazing martial artist, she has screen presence that makes the movie watchable no matter what is happening, as long as she's onscreen. She also displays some decent acting ability (possibly a first in a Pinkaew movie!). I have to admit I'm not that experienced with autistic children, but I had no trouble buying her as one at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. Except, you know, when she's kicking the shit out of everyone.

And then there's the other character: the fighting. Holy Moses, the fighting.

If you've been reading this here blog for any length of time, it's probably been made clear to you that there is one thing that I enjoy in movies more than anything else and that is badass female characters beating the snot out of people. In fact, I've probably written that exact sentence about 15 times in this blog. But there it is.

This movie is absolutely full of that stuff. This girl who looks like she weighs about 80 pounds flying through the air, elbowing people in the face, kicking anonymous henchmen in the nuts, knocking them off of buildings, kneeing people in the jaw and just generally laying waste to everyone. It almost feels as if this film was made specifically to cater to my tastes.

And it's not just that fact that makes this movie awesome. There is real, actual skill involved here and that shit is AMAZING. Much like the Tony Jaa movies, the action is very reminiscent of Jackie Chan movies at times. A lot of stuntwork involving inanimate objects, fitting into tight places and such. Really impressive at times and, for the stunt people involved, probably really painful. In fact, just like Jackie Chan films, there is even a blooper reel at the end of the film showing people getting hurt, bandaged, stitched up and put in a neck brace at one point. There are no wires here. No CGI enhancements. No crap editing to hide the fact that the people on screen can't really do the moves that the film implies they can do. This is all real, acrobatic HOLY SHIT THAT IS AWESOME stuff.



I guess what I'm trying to say is that Chocolate is just fucking FUN. I can't remember the last time I watched a movie alone in my room and couldn't keep my mouth shut because I was enjoying it so damn much. Jeeja Yanin may not be quite the intimidating badass that Tony Jaa is (yet), but she's already got more acting ability and screen presence than he does and I already love her more. And I'm a HUGE Tony Jaa fan.

I honestly cannot recommend this film highly enough to anyone that enjoys this type of movie. If you didn't enjoy Ong Bak or The Protector because they were just a little too ridiculous away from the fights, you may find some solace in Jeeja's acting and presence. It's not going to completely fix that problem for you, but it may be enough to help you get through it. If you did enjoy those movies, then YOU NEED TO SEE THIS FILM ASAP because it will enrich your life, make you a better person and ensure that your underarms will be free of odor for at least 36 hours.

Unfortunately, the US rights to this film are currently held by the Weinstein Company. Presumably, they'll release the movie as a Dragon Dynasty title at some point. Hopefully, they'll give it some kind of theatrical release, but I'm not holding my breath. It is, however, going to be getting some film festival play that will hopefully continue for a while. In the meantime, finding a subtitled bootleg on eBay shouldn't be terribly difficult at all.

So do that.



You have your orders.


All screencaps swiped from here.

You can see more of Jeeja doing stunts on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwxiMBMmBOM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meYRamNHVXA

In fact, it looks like YouTube has quite a few Jeeja-related videos. Sweet. Guess I know what I'll be doing for the next couple of hours.

Tags: movie reviews