Chocolate (2008)

An autistic girl with powerful martial art skills looks to settle her ailing mother's debts by seeking out the ruthless gangs that owe her family money.

Director:

Prachya Pinkaew

Writers:

Napalee (screenplay), Chookiat Sakveerakul (screenplay)

Stars:

JeeJa Yanin, Hiroshi Abe, Pongpat Wachirabunjong

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
JeeJa Yanin	...	Zen (as Yanin Vismitananda)
Hiroshi Abe	...	Masashi
Pongpat Wachirabunjong	...	No.8
Taphon Phopwandee	...	Mangmoon
Ammara Siripong	...	Zin (as Ammara Siriphong)
Dechawut Chuntakaro	...	Priscilla
Hiro Sano	...	Ryo (as Hirokazu Sano)
Aroon Wanatsabadeewong	...	Ice Factory Owner-Ice Man (as Aroon Wanasbodeewong)
Anusuk Jangajit	...	Candy Shop Owner
Nattakit Teachachevapong	...	Pork Man
Sirimongkhon Iamthuam	...	Boxer No.8 Henchman
Kittitat Kowahagul	...	Epileptic Boxer
Thanyathon Seekhiaw	...	Fur
Pirom Ruangkitjakan	...	Petch
Soumia Abalhaya	...	Boxer's Henchman

Storyline

When Zin, former girlfriend of a Thai mob boss, falls for Masashi, a Japanese gangster in Thailand, the boss banishes them: Masashi to Japan, and Zin, with her small daughter Zen, to live next to a martial arts school. Zen is autistic, with uncanny swift reflexes. She watches the students next door and Muay Thai movies, absorbing every technique. She's now a teen, and her mother needs chemotherapy. Zin has taken in a chubby kid, Moom, who watches over Zen. Moom finds a ledger listing business men who owe Zin money; he goes to them one at a time to collect in order to pay for Zin's treatment. Zen, with her martial skills, becomes his enforcer. A showdown with the boss is inevitable.

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Plot Keywords:

watching tv | pay phone | strong female lead | strong female character | tough woman | 

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Taglines:

She's sweet but deadly.

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence throughout, and brief sexuality/nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film originally included Zen watching scenes from Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies (in addition to Tony Jaa), but these scenes were eventually cut due to licensing problems. These licensing problems also caused other scenes to be removed from the original movie. The ice factory scene was originally shot as a split screen of Zen imitating the exact same moves she had seen Bruce Lee do in a fight scene from the movie The Big Boss (1971). It showed a clip of Bruce Lee doing his fight moves at the same time as Zen was mimicking Bruce Lee's moves. The warehouse scene was shot in a similar fashion, but this time it showed a split screen of Zen imitating Jackie Chan, wherein she would do her interpretation of a Jackie Chan fight routine. Eventually not only were the split screen scenes removed, but any scenes that involved Zen performing moves that too closely resembled fight sequences from Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movies were all cut as well. The original full version that included these scenes has not been released anywhere in Thailand.

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Goofs

When the mob boss is informed that Zin and Masashi still have a relationship, a record can be seen being played on the record player. However, no music can be heard.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Underrated Martial Arts Movies (2017)

User Reviews

A Nutshell Review: Chocolate

In this part of the world, there's no dearth of male action heroes, you know, those with real martial arts background. Think Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Wu Jing, and closer to home, Tony Jaa. How about a female counterpart? You're likely to struggle hard to name a credible one, Michelle Yeoh notwithstanding. So Thai director Prachya Pinkaew is probably shrewd enough to identify this golden opportunity, and so introduces us to Yanin Vismistananda in her debut feature Chocolate.

Those familiar with Pinkaew's martial arts extravaganzas with Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, will know roughly what to expect from Chocolate. Since the rumoured falling out with his main star of those movies, there's definitely some big shoes to fill, and Yanin fills them quite nicely, martial arts wise, though there were certain scenes which were quite clear that she's still a diamond in the rough with many edges left to polish. But that's not to put down her effort, except that I thought as a lady, her final delivery of those choreographed punches and kicks lacked some really hard hitting edge to them, and the curious observation that some required some speeding up, was left to be desired. What could also be improved, is the transitions between fights, because each seemed pretty much stand alone, even though you know that she's supposedly to be battling enemies continuously, but with each combatant, there seemed to be a "reset" to on-guard mode.

But what was learned from the earlier two Thai action movies, was that it was no longer necessary to repeat the action from different camera angles. This would stem from confidence in showing off the stunts from a single viewpoint, and not feel sore from not being able to cover it from multiple angles. And Chocolate had some really nice buildup in the complexity of these set action pieces. It teases with what's over the horizon starting from a few thugs at a street performance, and sets up carefully crafted action sequences for our heroine to flit from one to another, each being an excuse to dispatch goon after goon coming at her.

Influences from Hong Kong action movies are without doubt, as you can recount similar settings in various HK movies being incorporated here, such as Fong Sai-Yuk's half- crouching styled fights under a stage. What was internalized in Chocolate, was probably from the Jackie Chan styled school of action, which fuses some bit comedy, with the utilizing of everyday objects in one's surroundings to throw off opponents, or worked into the action piece as a prop for acrobatic stunts to be performed. I'd bet there are numerous sequences here that Jackie Chan himself would approve and be proud of.

And in true Jackie Chan culture, besides the end credits featuring some of the NG shots and injuries to the stars and stunt folk, you'll be glad to know that Yanin did most of her own stunts, and it's indeed no mean feat fighting in a skirt of that length, without it getting in the way. While the finale battle involves countless of Crazy88 types ala Kill Bill in wave after wave of attacks, culminating in battling it out on the facade of a multi-storey shophouse building complete with smashing windows, ledges and neon signboards, my personal favourite had to be at the abattoir. In reddish hues, the villains are sans shirts, meaning risks of personal injury are higher without padding that can be hidden underneath the clothes. And with menacing looking meat hooks hanging, and using cleavers as projectiles, just make your job drop at how these fights were choreographed and filmed, especially the slamming of bodies against concrete stalls.

Action aside, the first 30 minutes or so was devoted to developing Yanin's Zen (heh) character, a young autistic girl born of gangster parents - Dad Masashi (Hiroshi Abe) is a non-self-respecting Yakuza member who doesn't have a body full of tattoos, and Mom Zin (Ammara Siripong) belongs to the Thai triads, and ex-moll of its head honcho. In a Romeo- Juliet styled love springing from only hate, only in Singapore do you have the sex scene severely edited, which I thought was important as that's how Zen was conceived. Violence is OK, but sex is zero here. Anyway Dad had to exile himself back to Japan to avoid an all out gang war, and Zin now becomes an outcast single parent, who has to struggle with cancer, as well as raising an autistic child.

Children of such nature are usually referred to as special, and the specialness of Zen is her ability to pick up martial arts by observation. Hence thanks to DVDs of Pinkaew's earlier movies, and having to reside beside a Muay Thai school, Zen picks up the skills necessary, and get to use them when she goes hunting for her mother's debtors in order to pay for chemotherapy sessions. Money's everyone's problem, so Zen gets to use her fists, knees and elbows on her opponent's face, body and shin. I'd always love watching knees and elbows connect to deliver blows on opponents and inflicting excruciating pain, and in her lithe form, Zen delivers them with balletic grace.

Anyway I'd guess no one's really interested in how the story gets developed, which is not without its fair share of loopholes, but we're all here to watch Yanin Vismitananda kick some serious butt. And she does so convincingly enough to warrant a fan following onto her next movie, and make it an action one please!

Details

Official Sites:

Vidio [Indonesia]

Country:

Thailand

Language:

Thai Japanese English

Release Date:

6 February 2008 (Thailand)

Also Known As:

Chocolate

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,180, 8 February 2009

Gross USA:

$14,845

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,179,014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sahamongkol Film International, Baa-Ram-Ewe

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min 90 min 90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1