A martial arts star? Jija" Yanin Vismistananda opens up a can of whoop ass.Rain down some blows girl
By John Esther
The latest from Thai action director Prachya Pinkaew, the poorly-titled movie, Chocolate, features newcomer action star, "Jija" Yanin Vismistananda, as Zen, an autistic girl who studies martial arts movies to her advantage -- and backwardly criminal enterprise -- the way Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) studies numbers.
The child of a Thai mother ("Som" Amarka Siripong) and Japanese father (Hiroshi Are) who have been forced apart by their gangster boss who does not approve of such miscegenation, Number 8 (Pongpat Wachirabangjong), Zen spends her days by the TV watching martial arts movies (including Pinkaew's Ong Bak, featuring Tony Jaa) and then mimicking those martial arts skills in the town square for some change.
But when her mother gets sick and needs money for her treatment, Zen tracks down everyone who ever owed mommy money and kicks the "chocolate" right out of them when they refuse. Get a gun, gangster. This girl has mad skills.
Featuring a mixture of lackluster special effects and lustrous stunts, the movie is filled with one gleefully preposterous scene after another. People get hit hard, and nobody hits harder than this teenage girl -- only to get right back up and take an elbow to the head, foot to the knee or crack to the back.
Although hardly breaking any new barriers beyond letting a teenage girl slap the "chocolate" out of many men, plus an occasion woman, the movie occasionally gets freaky fun yet conversely gets tripping tiresome as it plays these fight scenes on and on until the film reaches just barely 90 minutes (including the credits, which you should stick around to see).
The film is obviously a launching pad for Vismistananda the way Pinkaew's Ong Bak and the superior yet under appreciated animal rights friendly flick, The Protector, was supposed to be for Jaa (whatever happened to that team up with Jackie Chan?). We know Vismistananda can fight on screen. Her performance as an autistic girl hellbent on helping mommy has yet to prove if she can act.
