Broadening My Horizons

Excuse me, I'm trying to get to the umbrellas

Thanks to the magic of Netflix, I’ve been able to explore the martial arts movies of other countries. My previous foray into non-Chinese martial arts flicks was a mixed bag with some great movies (like the Thai Ong Bak) as well as some stinkers (e.g. the Finnish Jade Warrior, aka the worst martial arts movie I have ever seen).

This month, I watched two very good movies with strong female leads. The first was the Korean Muyeong Geom (Legend of the Shadowless Sword). This was a pretty well-rounded movie with very good action, and a decent story. The cheese level was fairly low, and it’s too bad there are not more movies with So-yi Yoon available in the US.

However, the movie that really rocked my socks was the Thai Chocolate. Basically, Chocolate is what Romeo and Juliet would be like if R&J had an autistic daughter that became Tony Jaa‘s biggest fan and went around extorting all the gangsters in Thailand.

I asked for elbow macaroni...

The choreography is outstanding again, although the cheese levels occasionally approach the danger zone. Some shots are clearly sped up; others are speed-then-pose combinations, mixed with a bit of stone-statue syndrome (attacker punches once and stops). While JeeJa Yanin lacks the brutal power of Tony, she is very clearly skilled (TKD background); furthermore her acting is such that her character Zen’s retarded-ferocity (I mean this in a good way) really comes through. There is also something intensely amusing (I laughed out loud so many times) about watching a little 70 lb. girl elbowing/kneeing the hell out of everyone. The fights in the Japanese restaurant were especially good, even though they included a morally-shaky fight between the autistic girl and the spazzing-mentally-challenged-dog-guy. I figure this kind of thing is right up Velius’ alley.

Here’s the trailer (with a few outtakes showing how there was no stunt double!): ▼ Show

Chocolate really has it all: fighting with staffs, katana, scabbards, and even those electric bug zappers that look like tennis rackets. It also touches upon a range of subjects like chemotherapy, engrish, loan sharking, cross-dressing (a lot of cross-dressing), cross-country marriages, and even clean wind power. The scenes where Zen is watching Ong Bak are hilarious as well, but not as far-fetched as you might think. A lot of martial arts movies starring females are kinda lame (because of the weak choreography and unskilled actresses), but I would recommend both Legend of the Shadowless Sword and Chocolate to any martial arts fans.

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