Chocolate with English
Subtitle

Director Prachya Pinkeaw

Starring : Jeeja Yanin
Vismitananda,Ammara
Siripong,Pongpat
Wachirabunjong,Hiroshi Abe

Hallelujah. Girls with Guns
are back with a big fat old
fashioned no hold back
kickfest that will bring on
orgasmic hot flashes for those
of us who worshipped th
more

Chocolate with English
Subtitle

Director Prachya Pinkeaw

Starring : Jeeja Yanin
Vismitananda,Ammara
Siripong,Pongpat
Wachirabunjong,Hiroshi Abe

Hallelujah. Girls with Guns
are back with a big fat old
fashioned no hold back
kickfest that will bring on
orgasmic hot flashes for those
of us who worshipped the likes
of Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima,
Cynthia Khan, Michiko
Nishiwaki and Kara Hui in the
1990's. Tough, resilient women
who could make a roomful of
men cry for their mother.
Those days are gone in Hong
Kong, but at least for some 90
delirious minutes it is back
in Thailand. Actress Yanin
'Jeeja' Wismitanant is the
real deal with years of Muay
Thai training behind her and a
fervent desire to make a go of
it in a man's action world.
The bruises and cuts she
received while filming are
testament to this. With a
facial resemblance to Yukari
Oshima, Jeeja also has many of
her physical skills --
extremely quick and limber
kicks, acrobatic moves and a
risk taking attitude. She
doesn't emit Yukari's power
yet, but for a debut
performance this is
spectacular beginning with
hopefully more to come. Of
course, Jeeja is more likely
to be compared to her
countryman and inspiration
Tony Jaa, but at least at this
point she doesn't come close
to his ability to overwhelm
you with his moves -- i.e. no
running across the heads of a
line of men. Still, this
one-two punch makes Thailand
the action capital of the
world for now -- at least for
those who like their action
real and rough.


Chocolate is directed by
Prachya Pinkaew, who was the
guiding force behind Ong-Bak,
Born to Fight and Tom Yum
Goong, but unlike those films
he actually gives this one a
decent if not complicated
story line that has at least a
bit of characterization and
sentiment. On the other hand
there may be those who find
the premise offensive. Not
only is the main character
autistic, but her toughest
challenge is fighting another
person who is autistic - this
one practicing a shaking break
dancing form of kung fu. It
will be interesting to see how
the US distributors handle
that angle after someone picks
it up.


Zin (Ammara Siripong) is a
tattooed
moll/enforcer/collector for a
nasty Thai kingpin of crime.
When a Japanese Yakuza
(Hiroshi Abe) invades his
turf, Zin falls for him and
the two fall quickly into bed.
The Thai kingpin doesn't
appreciate this and forces the
Yakuza to return to Japan --
not knowing that Zin is
carrying his child. Zin leaves
the gang -- leaving her big
toe behind as payment -- and
sets up home right next to a
Muay Thai training facility.
The child is a girl -- Zen --
who turns out to be autistic,
but she grows up like any girl
in Thailand -- loving her
mother, eating chocolate and
watching Tony Jaa movies on
TV. The only difference is her
'special' skill as some
autistic children have --
extremely acute hearing, rapid
fast reflexes and an ability
to incorporate any fighting
style into her being. Her
quick reflexes allows her to
swallow buzzing flies and
catch balls (and knives)
thrown at her from any
direction.


Year's later mom comes down
with cancer and she and her
portly friend find a black
book with outstanding debts
owed to her mother. They
decide to collect them.
Fortunately for the viewer
these men don't want to pay
them back and they all own
small businesses -- ice
factory, chocolate wholesaler
and meat market -- with lots
of employees who think it will
be fun smacking around a young
clearly disabled woman. They
couldn't be more wrong. The
three different locations
create lots of opportunities
for various weapons and
acrobatics as Zen bounces
around like a ball on speed as
she smacks them all down to
size. Like most martial arts
films of this nature, the
fights get bigger and more
complex as they progress --
the best most bone breaking
being left for last.


The Thai kingpin comes back
into the picture and in the
finale Zen has to take on
hoards of oncoming men in a
scenario that will likely
remind many of the finale in
Kill Bill. But it shifts from
this interior set up to an
astonishing set piece that
takes place on the multi-level
ledges of the building -- so
purely Hong Kong that I almost
wet my pants -- as dozens of
men chase after Zen to only go
crashing below hitting every
ledge and sign along the
descent -- absolute hold your
breath and pray stuntwork.
Taking a page out of Jackie
Chan, the film accidents roll
over the end credits and they
are painful to watch. As much
as I love this stuff, there is
a part of me that feels like
this is feeding Christians to
the lions for entertainment --
but if so -- bring on more
lions. This one ranks right up
there with the best of the
Hong Kong Girls with Guns
films and it just felt so
good.

Category Film & Animation

Tags Chocolate, movie, JEEJA, YANIN, Thai, star, chocolate, Director, Prachya, Pinkeaw, with, English, Subtitle, Jeeja, Yanin, Vismitananda, Ammara, Siripong, Pongpat, Wachirabunjong, Hiroshi, Abe