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November 03, 2006

CHOCOLATE: NEW FROM PANNA RITTIKRAI

Prachya Pinkaew's CHOCOLATE

So what has the director of ONG BAK and THE PROTECTOR, Prachya Pinkaew, been up to? CHOCOLATE. With choreography by Panna Rittikrai (ONG BAK, BORN TO FIGHT), CHOCOLATE is a female centric action movie that's sort of like a homeless LA FEMME NIKITA meets ONG BAK.

Len is a young, autistic girl who has razor sharp fighting skills and lives with her mom. When mom gets cancer the kid picks up her mom's diary containing a list of people who owe her money and, one by one, she tracks them down and kicks their butts until they cough up the cash so she can pay her mom's medical bills. But most of the debtors belong to a group known as No. 8 and their membership includes some powerful politicians who decide that this spin-kicking teen has the potential to make them look bad so they decide to kill her.

The movie seems to be in post-production. Download a production notes flyer for CHOCOLATE (.jpg file)

November 3, 2006 at 11:00 AM in News | Permalink

Comments

Looks like a good one. Just wish Thai films would play on local cinema screens once in a while, as I'm not much of one for importing DVDs. So far in 2006 there have been a grand total of two Thai films in Bay Area cinemas: CITIZEN DOG at a film festival and THE PROTECTOR (cut to pieces, of course) at the multiplex. A long way from 2003 when there were no fewer than a dozen films from that country shown here, at least once or twice. Though it looks like TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER will finally play here late this year or early next.

Posted by: Frisco Brian | Nov 7, 2006 12:11:25 PM

I remembered another one that was shown here this year: THE GHOST OF MAE NAK. I probably overlooked it at first because its director is British, though the cast is all Thai.

Posted by: Frisco Brian | Nov 7, 2006 5:44:43 PM

Just out of curiosity, but is TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER really coming to a theater near you? How'd that happen? I thought it was lost forever!

Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Nov 8, 2006 4:27:08 AM

So did I. All I know is, in a newspaper ad (last week's San Francisco Bay Guardian) for Landmark Theatres, TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER was listed among several other films (THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG, MAN PUSH CART, etc.) as booked to appear on the "SF Winter Filmcalendar". The date and the theatre it would play at were not listed in the ad. I posted about the film at my site.

Posted by: Frisco Brian | Nov 8, 2006 4:06:51 PM

Ok, the SF Filmcalendar is not in my hot little hands and I can give you more details.

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER is scheduled to play a San Francisco Landmark-owned theatre (presumably the Lumiere or the Opera Plaza) next February 9-15.

According to the calendar, the film's being distributed by Magnolia Pictures. Note that both Anthony Kaufman and WiseKwai had wondered out loud if that company might take over for Miramax/Weinstein and arrange a release. Were they being prescient, or influential? I do not know.

I'm just thrilled at a shot at seeing this in a cinema again. (I was lucky to be living in Thailand when it had its commercial run there six years ago).

Posted by: Frisco Brian | Nov 9, 2006 9:37:44 PM


I understand that the two bad girls in the movie giving the heroin a hard time are both international muay thai champions. One muay thai champion / actress is soumia from holland, the other one is a girl from South Korea.

Posted by: pete | Nov 27, 2006 7:21:54 AM

I'm on the SF publicity team for Landmark Theatres and I wanted to let you know the official details for TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER.

Engagement begins Friday, February 9, 2007
Landmark’s Lumiere Theatre, 1572 California St., San Francisco (415) 267-4893
Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas, 2230 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley (510) 464-5980

Note that this movie is only playing for one week since it's one of our calendar films.

I know you probably already know about the film but here is a short synopsis:
TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER takes a journey back to a lost past – the heroic years of Thai genre cinema, when influences from Hollywood and everywhere else were subsumed into rollicking Thai melodramas for an audience of avid fans. Wisit Sasanatieng’s film is a brilliant pastiche of vanished themes, styles and characters, almost all of them easily recognizable as variants on the prototypes from other popular cinemas. But the film’s project is not simply nostalgic. Sasanatieng uses the tricks and tropes of film style from the 1960’s- iris shots, wipes, obvious back-projection – but combines them with a startling, modernist approach to color and storytelling. The result is not only unique in Thai cinema but also an entirely new way of looking at genre entertainment. TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER offers nostalgia as future shock.

When Dum, a young peasant boy, falls in love with Rumpoey, the daughter of a wealthy family, they vow that, whatever happens, they will one day be together. When they meet again ten years later, their rekindled passion is thwarted by the murder of Dum’s father by outlaws and by Rumpoey’s betrothal to a smooth-talking police captain. Dum soon transforms himself into the gunslinging bandit, “Black Tiger,” in order to infiltrate the gang who murdered his father. Fate will reunite the lovers one more time, but will they be able to continue their romance? Or will tragedy strike again?

The film’s running time is 110 minutes; it is not rated.

visit our website:
http://www.landmarktheatres.com

Posted by: landmark | Jan 10, 2007 11:45:32 AM

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