Street Smart Sukhumvit

OK. Enough with the oozy, gooey stuff I’d mentioned earlier. What SSS needs right now is some good ol’ fashioned raw and senseless VIOLENCE~!!

Boss keeps whining about everything? Kids endlessly pestering you to buy ‘em “stuff”? Office creep got you down?

If you’re feelin’ a bit pugilistic and contentious, don’t miss “Chocolate”, the new Thai action movie directed by Prachya Pinkaew of action flicks “Ong Bak” and “Tom Yam Goong” fame.

This time around, Pinkaew has a new fighter (rumor has it that he and Tony Jaa – star of both “Ong Bak” and “Tom Yam Goong” - had a falling out because the latter insisted on directing “Ong Bak 2”~!!)… slim, petite and FEMALE Nicharee “Jeeja” Vismistananda, who endured months of brutal training and bone-breaking stunts for the movie~!!

A note of caution: Better leave your brain at home before you watch “Chocolate”, because chances are, any intellectual impulses would be completely pulverized by the time you reach the middle part of the movie~!!

A short synopsis of the movie’s outrageous plot: Nicharee plays Zen, an autistic girl born from an ex-Thai mobster mistress Zin (played by Ammara Siripong) and a Japanese yakuza (played by Hiroshi Abe). Though Zen isn’t really “normal”, she has the amazing ability to record and replicate ANY martial arts style and over time, she grows into a real force to be reckoned with. When her mother Zin falls ill and needs LOTSA cash for medicines, Zen finds a list of people (all mean and nasty gangsters, of coz) who still owe debts to Zin. She decides to collect these debts... Not exactly a walk in the park, considering the "company" her mother used to hang out with~!! Nevertheless, Zin is unpertubed.

Anyone who refuses to pay will not be spared of her elbow strikes, karate chops and knee thrusts~!!!! You better get down on your knees and beg for mercy coz hell this girl can definitely KICK ASS~~!!!!

So yea, the plot is kinda dodgy, but WHO CAAAAARES ABOUT THE PLOT when you get to see Nicharee make mincemeat of tough baddies~!! Street toughs, sword-wielding assassins and even evil yappy katoeys are no match for her deadly skills~!!

I emerged from the theater with my head pounding and my blood pressure high.

When people asked me, “So what’s ‘Chocolate’ about?”, I gave ‘em a glazed look and deliriously replied, “Duuude~ you gotta check it out yourself~!! Those moves will surely come in handy the next time your little brother bugs the hell outta you~!!!”

P.S. At the end of "Chocolate", you'll be treated to a few behind-the-scenes takes where you'll see for yourself how hard-working, persistent and thick-skinned (plus perhaps a bit daft~??) the actors and stunts were in making the film... I'm talking about dislocated joints, concussions and broken bones~!!! OH, THE EXQUISITE PAIN~!!

Here's the trailer:

Hit me, baby, one more time~!!!

streetsmartsukhumvit@gmail.com

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