VIDEO: The trailer for Chocolate
Thai filmmaker Prachya (Ong Bak) Pinkaew's Chocolate opens with a statement saying it hopes "to be an encouragement to parents and the unconditional love given to the special children of the world." But love doesn't mean a few heads don't get knocked together.
Zin (Ammara Siripong), a Thai ganglord's girl, sleeps with a rival Japanese gangster, gets pregnant, and has to flee. She gives birth to Zen (Yanin Vismistananda), who grows into an autistic adolescent girl with uncanny martial arts skills. When Zin gets cancer, Zen and her sidekick Moom (Taphon Phopwandree) set out to collect some of mom's debts to pay for her treatment, and that attracts the ex's attention.
Let's just say Tarantino will have his work cut out for him in re-creating what follows. Asian action films have long combined sentiment with violence, and their characters have often been handicapped, but it took genius to feature a special-needs child as the hero. With an amazing performance from Vismistananda, Chocolate gives us a superhero we can believe in.
