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Chocolate (2008)

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Country: Thailand
Genre: Martial-Arts
Cast: Jeeja Yanin, Hiroshi Abe

Yanin “Jeeja” Vismistananda plays Zen the autistic daughter of a Thai loan shark and an exiled Japanese Yakuza. Before she is born, her mother and father are forced to separate by a rival gang (for financial and sadistic reasons), so only her mother raises Zen. As the years go by her mother catches cancer and Zen is unable to cope, but finds a channel by beating up the people who owed her mother money back in the day and paying for the treatment.

This the debut film from Jeeja Yanin at the tender age of 24 (not 14 like some have said). Directed by Prachya Pinkaew of Ong Bak and Kerd Ma Lui fame. We are given an action film that showcases a promising career for Jeeja Yanin.

Jeeja may be 24 (same ages as me) but she barely looks it. She has the face of a doll and at only 5”4 she is strangely reminiscent of Moon Lee. For her debut Miss Yanin actually has some acting talent and shows potential for future projects. I’m even hoping for a non-martial arts role one day.

Despite running at a long one hundred and ten minutes. This is guaranteed to keep action fans enthralled (provided of course you don’t mind waiting thirty minutes for the first action scene). Yanin showcases talent to match that of Tony Jaa and is full of promise for more in the future.

To quote Adam Torel (he whom owns third window films) “the film is simply a showcase and there are no real tough opponents. Just numberless stupid henchmen” The closest form of talent comes in the form of a talented young man with tourettes (only in Thailand can a man with Tourettes be cast in a straight role).

Overall this a great film if you just want to switch off and watch a pretty young woman beat up countless men.

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