Despite that my partner Belén has already written a review of the film, I decided to make one of my own after seeing this great work. And is that Chocolate, directed by the Thai Prachya Pinkaw, is a relentless feast of pineapples, kicks, and dizzying choreography that martial arts movie lovers can't miss.
With a simple plot and a melodramatic tone (which is funny at times), the film by Pinkaew tells the story of Zen, a young autistic girl, the daughter of a sick mother with a mafia past, who learns to fight by watching movies of Bruce Lee and observing students of muay-thai who practice in front of their house. When your mother's health is sharpened, Zen and his friend "the fat man" try to collect old debts that they find written down in a mother's notebook.
Thus the lovely girl He goes on tour to collect one and every one of the debts, distributing kicks, punches and various pains to those who resist to settle their accounts (which are all, obviously). In this sense, Chocolate It is one-dimensional: the key during the hour and a half that the film lasts are the fight scenes, incredibly choreographed by Panna rittikrai (usual collaborator of Pinkaew). The work of Rittikrai, added to the unique skill of Yasnin Vismistananda (Zen) and those sequences shot with great skill, make Chocolate a movie that is enjoyed to the fullest.
The final scene with Zen fighting with the Mafia Boss and his entire troupe of lackeys on some balconies, jumping and bouncing on neon signs, should occupy a privileged place in the history of martial arts cinema; and the showdown in the dojo with the spasmodic tick break dancer is not far behind either.
At the end of the film, along with the credits, you could see the backstage of the filming (just as it did Jackie Chan in his early days) and it was shown how serious the fight sequences were, where not only the extras but also the protagonist (doubles were not used throughout the film) were hurt, in some cases with hospitalization through.