Chocolate (2008)

 

The 2003 release of Ong Bak seemed to signal the emergence of Thailand as the new hot-spot to watch for martial arts cinema.  That film's grounded athleticism was a thrilling alternative to the stylized wuxia "wire-fu" movies that have dominated Hong Kong action cinema for the last several years.  Yet since that time, at least here in the West, it has seemed like Thai martial arts films have largely been a one-man show.  While there have been a handful of other films that have received Western releases, noone has arisen to stand alongside Tony Jaa as a breakout star.  Chocolate, however, makes a good case for Yanin Vismitananda as being the next Thai fighter with the potential to become a genuine phenomenon.

High Kick Girl! (2009)

Rina Takeda.  Surprisingly, this shot was played at normal speed.

 One of the pleasures of working on this particular blog has been the fact that my co-author and I watch such wildly different kinds of films, yet think and talk about them in very similar ways.  This has at times allowed me to make unexpected connections between films and genres and find common threads of interest to follow.  And so it was that I found myself thinking about MGM musicals while watching this low-budget martial arts quickie from Japan.