Rather than go for the Tony Jaa trifecta after Tom-Yum-Goong and Ong Bak, veteran Thai director Prachya Pinkaew deserted an easy money comfort zone provided by his famed actor and passed the leading role duties for Chocolate to an unknown young female teenager (Yanin Wismitanant as Zen) without a lick of acting experience under her belt. This risky endeavor pays off in spades — though not necessarily for Prachya or his stunt-filled fighting extravaganza.
Chocolate’s early narrative sets up a classic tale of love-fueled revenge. Yakuza Masashi (Hiroshi Abe) is about to be gunned down by a Thai gang leader Number 8 and his sexually confusing right-hand woman (man?) when Number 8’s girlfriend Zin (Ammara Siripong, not to be confused with Zen) steps in front of Masashi to protect him. Realizing his girl is a mistress to a sworn enemy, Number 8 banishes Masashi to Japan for the rest of his life while Zin, not realizing she is carrying Masashi’s child at the time, is left behind to care for the young autistic girl with demanding needs on her own.
Zen’s autism brings with it social challenges such as an unrelenting fear of flies and repetitive behaviors like kicking a wooden beam until her shin is covered in bruises and blood, and watching Bruce Lee kung-fu movies over and over again for visual simulation. It also gifts her with abilities “normal” kids are incapable of such as catching balls or knives in her hand with cat-like reflexes. Knowing her freakish skills, Zen’s cousin Moom uses her abilities in a peddling street urchin act for miniscule profit.
Roughly 45 minutes in, Zin is diagnosed with Cancer and faces mounting medical bills all while Moom happens upon a notebook which lists old business contacts a.k.a. bad men from Zin’s past that owe her money. Faced with losing Zin, Moom and Zen set out to collect the debts and a carnival of kung fu mayhem ensues.
Zen’s first big fight is a wondrous moment that kicks Chocolate into another gear. Barely old enough to wear a bra, she channels her memorized patterns of Bruce Lee fighting, including his high-pitched taunts, and beats down at least 20 grown men like they are handicapped retirees seeking a speed pass to the grave.
Rather than build upon the narrative and justify the existence of this list of debtors and their ties to Zin, Prachya fires off a full hour of one extravagant fight scene after another with nary a breather. Zen does splits, flies through the air, slides under tables, uses random props for offense and defense, flings around on banisters and completes what amounts to the perfect resume for her hopefully long career in film. The work is so dangerous that the end credits are a showcase for countless injuries endured during filming.
Under the weight of incessant action with uneven editing, the story crumbles into an unintelligible mess climaxing in a beautifully choreographed finale shot on the ledges and large signs on the side of a building. Even this amazing stunt reel finale can’t save Prachya’s Chocolate from failing as a solid start-to-finish “movie.” In this failure births what could become a bright career for a gifted young actress.
Magnolia’s treatment of Chocolate on Blu-ray Disc is generally pleasing given the challenging fight scenes and lack of strong lighting. The 1.78:1 1080p VC-1 encoded transfer works best in tight shots where detail is impressively strong. Pulled back and a selection of nighttime shots are harsher with some blocking and a noticeable softness to the image. These instances are more an anomaly than the rule and are more contributable to marginal lighting conditions rather than faults with the transfer.
The original Thai and a dubbed English DTS-HD Master Audio mix is offered. I went with the original Thai track with English subtitles to best feel the performances despite the language barrier. For a non-American film the audio mix is surprisingly aggressive. The score cues constantly circle around the room with full use of the surrounds. Ambient sounds are well-placed in reference to action on the screen and dialogue is crisp and intelligible throughout.
A lone bonus feature connected to the movie, Making of Chocolate (8:56), plays much like the film: a long commercial to showcase the infinite martial arts skills of Yanin. With such a short runtime it is odd to see the final 3+ minutes of this featurette comprising of the theatrical trailer. That should have been separated out into its own feature and more material about the stunts added in. Also included are high definition trailers for Magnolia’s previously released Blu-ray titles The Host and The Signal, and a third for the upcoming release Splinter.
Chocolate’s misguided and forgotten narrative and decent but not stunning Blu-ray presentation are easily forgotten. Though Chocolate melts, at least the filling — one seriously talented young Yanin Wismitanant to whom I’ve become an instant fan — is still worth taking a blind bite for again and again.
– Dan Bradley
Click here to order Chocolate on Blu-ray at Amazon.com.
