Chocolate- new Prachya Pankaew movie

[jethro]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1053379045929040117

Looks interesting, and the action looks really good. This girl is badass.

[doug maverick]

**** i been waiting to see this since i read the article on kfc **** that was nasty. can;t wait to watch this movie.

[jethro]

It looks different, that's for sure. A lot different than Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong.

[doug maverick]

yeah the story looks more commercially viable. actually ir reminds me of old boy with more kung fu

[GeneChing]

When I met Tony Jaa, his agent told me to watch for Chocolate. He described it as being about a female idiot savant who is forced to fight by gangsters (ala Unleashed (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35097)). I've been eagerly awaiting this one too.

Baa Ram Ewe has yet to miss for me.

[doug maverick]

yeah defininate unleashed meets oldboy

[GeneChing]

Although I've also seen her listed as Nitcharee Wismitanant. Is there a standard romanization for Thai? Americans could handle Tony Jaa, but they'll never be able to get their mouths around Nicharee... Jeeja maybe... :rolleyes:

Here's another teaser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0U31padLY) - there's a short action sequence and a lot of people talking in Thai, and a nice shot of the Baa Ram Ewe studios.

The premiere is Feb 7th. I heard there was a trailer for Chocolate in front of Warlords (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46453).

[Jimbo]

Looking forward to this one...

[doug maverick]

man these guys are amnazing but there voice's are to ****ing high to do anything here in the states. at least with lines anyway

[Phil Redmond]

I had a meeting with Warrington Hudlin this Sat.in Manhattan and when I drove him home he told me that he featured Tony Jaa at the Museum of the Moving Image.
Tony told him about a new Thai movie entitled "Chocolate"
Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGjUyu9c8Ng

[doug maverick]

yea i emailed warrington the trailer a few weeks ago and he told me tony told him about it. he said he would hold a screening for it if he can.

[Phil Redmond]

yea i emailed warrington the trailer a few weeks ago and he told me tony told him about it. he said he would hold a screening for it if he can.
Cool, he also showed me a place on Canal and Bowery that has lots of kung fu DVDs. I'll be teaching a WC class at 77 Mulberry St. every Sunday from 12:00 - 2:00pm so this Sunday I'm going there to check out what they have in stock. I'll presume your name is Doug. What do you study?
Phil

[doug maverick]

yeah the name is doug, for the past five years i've been learning xing yi chuan. but i've studied lung ying kuen, hung gar, traditional northern shaolin, and some japanese styles.(i resisted putting: "and a whole bunch of other **** you never heard of"lol)

[Phil Redmond]

yeah the name is doug, for the past five years i've been learning xing yi chuan. but i've studied lung ying kuen, hung gar, traditional northern shaolin, and some japanese styles.(i resisted putting: "and a whole bunch of other **** you never heard of"lol)
I don't know about that. After 42 years in the martial arts I've seen a lot of ****. . . ;)
Why don't you show up at the class in Chinatown Sunday?

[doug maverick]

as for "whole bunch of other **** younever heard of" thats a line from that old wayans bros. flick i'm gonna get you sucka. but sure i'll pop up if my schedule allows.

[GeneChing]

I give Chocolate a hearty thumbs up. Baa Ram Ewe has turned in another fine flick. I haven't laughed so hard at fight scenes in a very long time. Jeeja is very quick and agile and even turns in a satisfactory acting performance. Her striking power isn't convincing because she's a skinny girl, but what she lacks in impact is made up for with crazy Jackie Chan/Parkour style stunts. There's some great self reference too, a quality I found outstanding in The Forbidden Kingdom (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42599). If you know the genre, there are nods to Big Boss, Ong Bak (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35382), Tom Yum Goong (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42625), Unleashed (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35097), and like I said, Kill Bill. Pankaew and Rittikrai are obviously keen observers of martial arts cinema and I can't wait until their next project, which I believe to be Ong Bak II. Long live Baa Ram Ewe! Baa Ram Ewe! To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true! ;)

[Phil Redmond]

Hey Gene, how did you get to see it??? :p

[冠木侍]

I've seen this DVD for sale in certain places...

[doug maverick]

i'm going to watch this bad boy today. and will have a nice little revue for you guys.

[MartialDev]

I know it's not fair to compare her to Tony Jaa...but I did, and she came up short.

What I really don't understand is how they can put so much effort into amazing fight choreography, and so little effort into a decent plot to surround it.

[doug maverick]

i'm sorry but the plot for this film was ten times better then both ong back(country boy goes to big city to get back a sacred buddha head, the cures the village) or tom yoong goong(country boy goes to big city to get back his elephants) which were essentially the same story. the fights i loved i thought she was on par with tony. pretty much because the fights looked the same. in fact the only thing that made me go oh sh!t rewind that was when she had the fight with the break dancer. other then that same **** as jaa's movies. just less big time stunts and they used wires.

[MartialDev]

Sure, the moves were similar, but the quality of movement was not at all similar!

[doug maverick]

while tony has the moves. this young lady jee ja has the acting, she blows him out the water. her movemnts were defferent because her style is defferent she's tkd girl. so ofcourse she is not going to look like to tony, she's going to look like jee ja. silly rabbit

[Jimbo]

I wonder if/when Dragon Dynasty (or whichever company) will be releasing this one?

[Phil Redmond]

I wonder if/when Dragon Dynasty (or whichever company) will be releasing this one?
I purchased my copy here:
https://www.redsundvd.com/view_product.php?product=Chocolate

[GeneChing]

It's already widely available in DVD in Chinatown - I've seen it at our local video stores even. They are the official U.S. release, which is usually of better quality (the right platform for sure). Nevertheless, I'm always surprised to find how many martial arts movie fans don't know about this one, so it still may garner some audience next year.

They'll probably dub it. :(

Magnet draws Thai martial arts hit Chocolate (http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=41030&Category=)
Liz Shackleton in Bangkok
24 Sep 2008 17:57

Magnet, the recently launched genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to Thai martial arts action title Chocolate from Sahamongkolfilm International.

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew (Ong Bak) and starring newcomer Jeeja Vismistananda, the film recently screened in the Midnight Madness section at Toronto and took the Audience Award runner-up prize at Austin's Fantastic Fest.

North American rights to the film were previously sold to The Weinstein Company (TWC), but Sahamongkolfilm took the rights back at the same time that TWC passed back Tony Jaa's long-in-production Ong Bak 2.

Chocolate, which was a box office hit when it was released in Thailand this February, follows an autistic girl who learns Muay Thai via marathon screenings of Tony Jaa and Bruce Lee movies.

"Magnet has had a long tradition of debuting action stars like Tony Jaa, Dan Chupong, David Belle, Marko Zaror, and now we're fortunate enough to launch our first female action star: Jeeja Vismistananda. Chocolate proves Jeeja is as hard hitting as the big boys and fans will be delighted by Prachya's return to kick-ass action," said Magnolia senior vice president Tom Quinn.

The deal was negotiated by Magnolia's Quinn with Gilbert Lim representing Sahamongkolfilm International. Magnet will release the film theatrically in 2009.

[GeneChing]

I saw the screener version from Magnolia recently. I enjoyed it even more this time. It's a really fun film. It's all about Baa Ram Ewe for me now...


Official US Poster for Thai Martial Arts Movie Chocolate (http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/12/30/official-us-poster-for-thai-martial-arts-movie-chocolate/)
December 30, 2008
Source: Twitch
by Alex Billington
Official US Poster for Thai Martial Arts Movie Chocolate

Taste the fury! In the world of badass foreign martial arts movies, Chocolate is one of this year's best unseen gems. Although I personally missed it at two film fests, it has been receiving fairly positive reviews (read one from Twitch and one from Film School Rejects). Thanks to Twitch, we've got the official US poster for Chocolate, which is Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew's latest film. While the art on this poster isn't anything new, the tagline is, and it's one of the very reasons I had to share this. So do yourself a favor and check it out (and watch the trailer if you haven't) because this is finally hitting theaters in February.

Chocolate is directed by Thai filmmaker Prachya Pinkaew, of Tony Jaa's Ong Bak and The Protector previously. The screenplay was written by Chukiat Sakveerakul (13 Beloved, Body #19) and Nepalee Sakweerakul. The film stars martial arts newcomer Nicharee "Jeeja" Vismistananda. Chocolate first opened in theaters in Thailand this February and played at the Toronto Film Festival and Fantastic Fest this year as well. Magnet Releasing will debut Chocolate in limited theaters starting on February 6th, 2009.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the release info, Gene!

[RAYNYSC]

I Just seen it & all I can say chocolate kicks ass....
Regardless of it's story line....

[GeneChing]

CHOCOLATE kick its way into theaters on Friday, February 6 and will be available on DVD and HDNet Ultra VOD Tuesday, February 10 from Magnet Releasing!

Chocolate Official HD Trailer - Director of Ong Bak (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Onmgwe5xi8)

CHOCOLATE’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chocolate-Movie/47649602313)

PRESS RELEASE

“A Sweet, Brutal, Bloody Treat” – Harry Knowles, Ain’t It Cool News

Prachya Pinkaew, director of Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, returns with CHOCOLATE, an explosive new martial arts masterpiece starring his new protégé, “Jija” Yanin Vismistananda, who spent five years training for the role. Jija plays Zen, a young autistic girl who grows up next to a Muay Thai boxing studio and is raised on a steady diet of chocolate and marathon viewings of Tony Jaa and Bruce Lee films. Zen’s father, a Japanese gangster, has been driven out of the country by a rival Thai gang, so her mother has been forced to raise her alone.

It becomes clear over time that Zen has miraculously absorbed formidable Muay Thai techniques from watching the boxers next door and repeated viewings of martial arts classics. When Zen’s mother is diagnosed with cancer and the cost of treatments prove overwhelming for the family, Zen sets out with her cousin on a violent mission to collect debts from the corrupt gangsters that owe her mother money.

Featuring death-defying stunts and a charming newcomer who is sure to blow the minds of martial arts fans everywhere, CHOCOLATE represents Prachya’s proper follow-up to the smash success of Ong Bak.

[GeneChing]

I wonder if Sollecito is basing this review on the theatrical release that's allegedly 20 minutes shy. I saw a screener of the upcoming Magnet DVD and it seemed complete to me.

Don't give this 'Chocolate' for Valentine's (http://www.nyunews.com/arts/film/don_t_give_this_chocolate_for_valentine_s-1.1352330)
Anthony Sollecito
Published: Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, February 4, 2009
chocolate

As far as martial arts films go, “Chocolate” boasts a standard plot: Zen (newcomer JeeJa Yanin) loves Muay Thai and has imitated the moves of Thai action star Tony Jaa her entire life. When her dying mother can no longer afford chemotherapy, Zen puts her self-taught fighting skills to the test, setting out on a quest to collect the family’s unpaid debts and inadvertently unearthing their dangerous past in the process. Now cross that bag of clichés with “Rain Man,” and you have a high-concept revenge film starring a severely autistic, candy-loving Muay Thai savant pitted against a pimped-out crime boss and his entourage of gun-wielding, glammed-out transvestites. Oh, and our heroine suffers from a crippling fear of CGI flies.

Such a synopsis makes “Chocolate” sound unquestionably awesome but don’t be fooled: Despite its ludicrous premise, it is unfortunately just another one of the cookie-cutter, low-budget martial arts films being churned out by the Thai film industry. What is all the more surprising is the movie’s pedigree: It was directed and choreographed by Thai mainstays Prachya Pinkaew and Panna Rittikrai, who worked on Tony Jaa’s terrific international breakthroughs, “Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior” and “The Protector.” While both of those films feature similarly bare-bones plots, one should not underestimate the liveliness and sheer talent of Tony Jaa.

The same cannot be said of Yanin, whose performance lacks Jaa’s vital energy, though it is hard to say how much of that burden rests squarely on her shoulders. Stuck playing a practically mute, one-dimensional character, Yanin has a difficult time connecting emotionally with the audience. Her performance is therefore merely a display of her physical skills, and on that level, Pinkaew’s direction lets her down.

While Yanin has serious action skills, “Chocolate” commits a cardinal sin of martial arts cinema: choppy, fast-paced editing. In order for the action to feel realistic, the director must respect and highlight the dance-like quality of martial arts choreography. A director only needs to rely on editing when he must disguise an actor’s inadequacies as a fighter. “Chocolate” may feature professionals, but it feels excessively staged. Even as the film’s set pieces become more and more extravagant, it never feels as though the stuntmen are in danger of getting injured. And that is the true thrill of a martial arts film: wondering how they managed to film a scene without someone dying.

As anyone who has seen both the Thai and international versions of Pinkaew’s films knows, they tend to get chopped up by the time they are released on U.S. shores. This is also sadly the case with “Chocolate,” which runs nearly 20 minutes shorter than its original cut. Reinstating that lost time would probably improve the film’s schizophrenic pacing, disguise its gigantic plot holes and possibly even clean up its shoddy editing. One of Pinkaew’s best characteristics in his collaborations with Tony Jaa is his unflinching use of the camera, filming action in long takes and keeping the cutting to a minimum. Viewers can only assume that perhaps this Americanization of “Chocolate” has distorted his original vision. For a real treat, check out one of Pinkaev’s other films instead.

[GeneChing]

"why don’t the henchmen use firearms instead of their inferior kung fu?" Because it's a martial arts film. duh.. ;)


Hungry for martial-arts action? Try 'Chocolate’ (http://www.star-telegram.com/903/story/1185111.html)
R (extreme martial-arts violence, sex, nudity); 92 min.

When a movie has the word "chocolate" in the title, it seems that — unless Willy Wonka is involved — it’s more than likely an imported slice of cinematic sensitivity a la Like Water for Chocolate or Chocolat. Well, Chocolate is a foreign film, but this wantonly politically incorrect, wildly enjoyable blast of martial-arts mayhem is about as kid-friendly as a bar brawl and as sensitive as a swift kick to the head.

Chocolate, making its North Texas debut at midnight Friday and Saturday at Landmark’s Inwood in Dallas, has already been the subject of excited word-of-mouth on the fanboy underground since opening last year in Asia. Directed by Thailand’s Prachya Pinkaew, who made the 2003 martial-arts hit Ong-Bak, Chocolate centers on the autistic Zen (JeeJa Yanin), who grows up responding only to hand-to-hand, foot-to-face Muay Thai kickboxing combat, whether it’s on television or watching kids in the neighborhood practice their moves.

She gets to put what she has absorbed into action because Mom (Ammara Siripong), who has been driven into poverty and illness by her former crime boss because he thinks her disloyal, has massive medical bills. Zen’s cousin Mangmoom (Taphon Phopwandee) decides to play collection agency with some of the bad guys who still owe Mom money, using the unstoppable Zen as his muscle. Of course, the boss and his vicious crew of glamorous, transgendered hit men aren’t too happy about this.

Though Chocolate is a better made and more complex film than Ong-Bak, the plot still defies logic (why don’t the henchmen use firearms instead of their inferior kung fu?) and matters less than the action — but the action is spectacular. From a slip’n’slide workout in an ice factory to a cleaver crackdown in a butcher shop, Chocolate doesn’t slow down. In the process, young Yanin — in her first major role — proves herself not only to be the most compelling female martial-arts figure since Michelle Yeoh, but also someone who can clearly give the boys competition, too.

Be sure to stay through the end credits because, as with the vintage Jackie Chan movies, the outtakes of stunts-gone-wrong are nearly as eye-popping as the film itself. That’s just the cherry on top of a piece of Chocolate that should satisfy the cravings of the action-film audience.

In Thai, with English subtitles
Exclusive: Landmark Inwood, midnight Friday and Saturday
— Cary Darling

[GeneChing]

Check out our new sweepstakes. You could win Chocolate on DVD, just released by today by the good people at Magnet (http://www.magnetreleasing.com/). Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 02/24/09. Good luck everyone!

[Lokhopkuen]

I give Chocolate a hearty thumbs up. Baa Ram Ewe has turned in another fine flick. I haven't laughed so hard at fight scenes in a very long time. Jeeja is very quick and agile and even turns in a satisfactory acting performance. Her striking power isn't convincing because she's a skinny girl, but what she lacks in impact is made up for with crazy Jackie Chan/Parkour style stunts. There's some great self reference too, a quality I found outstanding in The Forbidden Kingdom (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42599). If you know the genre, there are nods to Big Boss, Ong Bak (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35382), Tom Yum Goong (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42625), Unleashed (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35097), and like I said, Kill Bill. Pankaew and Rittikrai are obviously keen observers of martial arts cinema and I can't wait until their next project, which I believe to be Ong Bak II. Long live Baa Ram Ewe! Baa Ram Ewe! To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true! ;)

I never ever in a hundred years imagined myself yelling at my TV "Kill the tranny, kill that evil tranny!!"

[doug maverick]

I never ever in a hundred years imagined myself yelling at my TV "Kill the tranny, kill that evil tranny!!"

agreed!!!!! hated that fake twat too!!!

[GeneChing]

...you must see Mercury Man (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=919862). Trust me on this. It's the best part. ;)

The winners for our Chocolate DVD contest have been announced (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53416).

[Lokhopkuen]

I missed the correlation.

[Jimbo]

When I saw the transvestites in Chocolate, it reminded me of the Thai tranny assassins in Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon, which co-starred Sammo Hung and Karl Maka.

[Lucas]

Did a search for this and didnt see anything pop up. Maybe my search fu is weak?

Anyhow, I really dug this film. Some of the craziest stunts ive seen. May not seem like much on some of them, but when you catch the highlights at the end. some of those guys did some big stuff, one guy going to the hospital from landing on his head/neck on concrete.

its a good combination of muay thai and wushu, making for some exciting fight stunts and acrobatics.


(mini spoiler)a young girl with a mental handicap turns out to be a martial savant, able to learn by watching instantly. sets out on an adventure with her friend to recover money owed to her mother from past criminal dealings, to pay for her mothers chemotherapy medicine. then the past catches up.....a very suprising emotional ride at the end. its like the rain man of martial arts movies.


best fight imo: when the savant girl fights the guy with physical turrets....classic

[Lucas]

my search fu is weak. i did a search on "chocolate" and didnt see this thread.

shouldnt it pop up first under a word search as an exact match, or does it not go by keyword?

:(

oh well, it was a great movie.