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She- Bruce Lee


Chocolate (Thai, 2008)
Why Chocolate? I am still wondering after completing the film. The only thing remotely linked to chocolate is that the protagonist loves M&M and in one of fight scene there were stacked boxes labelled 'Chocolate' on it.
Generally, I do not fancy violent shows but this is an exception. Kudos to the believably natural stunts in place unseen before on films - in a pork market with cleaver swinging thugs and the climax fight scene off a roof and parapet. At the end of the movie, we are shown that many stuntmen and even the actress (Yanin "Jeeja" Vismitananda, a 3rd dan taekwando exponent) get injured on numerous occasions. The story is nothing to shout about but the martial arts are out of this world. It is a combination of Bruce Lee's acrobatic moves, Jacky Chan's practical fighting using things that come along the way like doors and muay thai type of kiss-ass movements!
Zin angers the Thai underworld warlord (no. 8) when she leaves him for Masashi, a Yakuza gangster. After things gets too heated up, Masashi returns to Japan.
Zin, now discovers to be pregnant, leads a quiet life away from the city lights as waitress. The child is born, Zen, later found to be autistic. Playing with herself all the time, she develops extraordinary reflexes. Staying next to a muay thai academy and watching kungfu movies all the time on TV, she self taught herself martial arts. Meanwhile, an orphan boy, Moon, is adopted as her brother and they grow up together.
When Zin  has to undergo chemotherapy for cancer, Moon and Zen do street performances using her reflexes to earn money for mother's treatment.
One day, they found a little diary with list of people who owe Zin money - Zin was collecting for the underworld earlier. Together, they (the siblings) go hunting for the debtors who gave a lot resistance before paying after a good beating. This is where all the action is displayed in the movie.
No. 8 gets involved and a big showdown happens. Masashi comes to know about his daughter, he returns and a finale ensues. After much fighting, Zin succumbs to her wounds, Father and daughter are reunited.
Looks like the Thais have accepted the third gender as norm. Many of the gangster's henchmen (err, henchpersons) are actually transvestites! They are not made to look comical and degrading as in Malaysian or even Indian films but are actually mean dudes (err, people) who shoot for real!
Thumbs up for great display of believably real fighting scenes, not the dish-dish MGR vs. Nambiar kind of fights!
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