Movie Review: Chocolate

Chocolate (2008)

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew

Starring Yanin Vismitananda, other Thai people with amazingly long names

Trailer:

Chocolate is the latest movie by Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew. Zen (Vismitananda) is the autistic daughter of Japanese yakuza father Masashi (Hiroshi Abe!) and Thai mafia mother Zin (Ammara Siripong). In order to pay for her dying mother's medical treatment, Zen and childhood friend Moom (Taphon Phopwandee) attempt to collect debts hidden in Zin's belongings. Unbeknownst to them, these debts are actually owed to Thai mob boss No. 8 (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), a former lover of Zin's who was long ago embittered by her betrayal. Helping matters somewhat is Zen's savant mastery of muay thai boxing, learned from martial arts movies and obsessive practice. Enemies cross paths, hijinx occur, ass-kickery ensues.

The back story of Zen's life is delivered competently. All the actors do a good job, especially Zin, whose relationship with Zen is actually quite touching. The general plot is a little stale, but you have to give credit for at least trying to make it distinctive. Besides, this is first and foremost a martial arts movie, so it's not too disheartening to be a little lax on the story. Zen is a strong main character, displaying an excellent balance of vulnerability and ferocity, as well as amazing martial arts skills (incredibly, no stunt doubles were used in this film).

Pinkaew is a very good martial arts director. Fight scenes are shot without the cut-every-half-second mentality you see so often in Western movies, and you never lose track of who's doing what. The fight choreography is also top-notch, muay thai boxing being one of the more impressive martial arts to watch these days. The scenes each have a distinct look and feel to them, so they don't run together and you don't get bored halfway through. Considering a good 1/3 of the movie is fight scenes, it's very appreciated. From a continuity standpoint, I wonder if I may have gotten an edited version of the movie. Occasionally people will change body positions significantly between cuts. It's not a huge problem, but it can be a distraction if you're OCD about that type of thing.

Plus: Excellent fight choreography, good acting, plenty of moments that you will have to rewind just to make sure you saw what you thought you saw, umm, it features a gang of Thai transsexuals?

Minus: Despite the autism "hook," you've seen this plot 500 times before, not the best soundtrack (depending on whether you like thai pop music), minor continuity errors.

Overall grade: A-