Wasp & Orchid presents CHOCOLATE
Sunday, April 28st
Doors at 8pm; movie at 8:30pm
FREE
Wrapping up our month long series featuring films with a female lead, Wasp & Orchid has saved the best for last with 2008’s Chocolate.
Best known for their Muay Thai action movies Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong starring Tony Jaa, director Prachya Pinkaew and martial arts choreographer Panna Rittikrai cast 24 year old Taekwondo expert Yanin “Jeeja” Vismitananda in her debut performance.
Jeeja plays Zen, a young autistic girl who acquires astounding combat skills by observing the students training at a neighboring Muay Thai academy in addition to various action films and video games. When her mother–the former wife of a Yakuza boss and moneylender to the criminal underworld–falls ill and cannot afford treatment, Zen decides to take it upon herself to collect from old debtors, who aren’t going to pay up without a fight.
If you are familiar with Prachya Pinkaew and Panna Rittikrai’s work then you already know the fight sequences are going to be extremely complex and non-stop, over-the-top.
Catch a glimpse in the trailer:
The Wasp & Orchid Martial Arts Cinema Series explores martial arts cinema in its most innovative and inspirational forms. Each screening highlights a particular martial arts style, director, production company, choreographer, or individual actor and actress, featuring cinema from China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and beyond.