Chocolate

This week marks the US film release of Chocolate, the long awaited new movie from Thai director Prachya Pinkaew, of Ong Bak fame.  Actress Yanin "Jeeja" Wismitanant plays an an autistic girl with amazing powers of muscle memory.  Jeeja has trained in Muay Thai for years, used no body double and did all her own stunts for this film.  They are calling her the female Tony Jaa.  

I don't know much about autism but some critiques of the film have not appreciated the manner in which the condition is handled in this movie.  The New York Times says, "It’s true that Zen (Jija Yanin Vismitananda), born to a humble Thai woman and a Japanese gangster, exhibits behaviors that suggest autism, or at least some poorly acted simulation of it: abnormal shyness, primitive syntax, rocking back and forth, an extreme aversion to houseflies."

In the same New York Times article mentioned above commenter WBBolton from Austin, TX. writes in to say, "The person who reviewed this movie has no appreciation for the genre, so don't be put off by his comments. I've had this movie in a Malaysian release for months.... Jeeja Yanin is a real-life taekwando expert, and she has the moves."

We haven't seen it yet but we're hoping to catch it at an indie theater somewhere here in town. However, I do like two things about this movie from the get-go.  #1 - It defies all that gender profiling that would tell us boys get in fights and girls go shopping.  #2 - It portrays a female lead who is not using her body to seduce men and achieve power.  I have become especially sensitive to the latter lately.  I am so tired of seeing Asian women portrayed by the media as if the entire race exists to serve as nothing other than oversexed supermodels or prostitutes.  Now I do realize that martial arts expert is also a racist stereotype that the Asian community would like to get away from as well but this is genre film produced in Thailand for the Thai community.  I think it's ok for someone in a martial arts film to be a martial arts expert.  It's when the Asian girl in any given media characterization is always a martial arts expert that the illusion grows weary.

That being said, "I hope you guys enjoy a little Thai Chocolate this Valentines season!"

Happy Valentines Day!

 - Rosemary