A box of Chocolate from Magnet for Valentine's Day

Chocolate hits Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray just in time for Valentine's Day.

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew, this sweet, action-packed martial-arts drama features the debut of young female fighter Jeeja Yanin Vismitananda as an autistic savant who learns to kick heads by watching Bruce Lee and Tony Jaa movies. When her former gangster-moll mother becomes sick, the girl goes on a candy-fuelled rampage to retrieve money that is owed to her mom.

Magnolia Home Entertainment's Magnet label will release it on February 10, and the DVD and the Blu-ray are available for pre-order at Amazon.

Magnet is the company to watch for Thai DVDs. Among the titles in their catalog are Tears of the Black Tiger, Ong-Bak, Dynamite Warrior and both of Mum Jokmok's Bodyguard movies.

The North American DVD release of Chocolate follows a Region 2 bow in the U.K. early last month.

By the way, Chocolate was featured at last month's Denver Film Festival, and Peter Nellhaus reports it was well received there. He has a review of Chocolate at Coffee Coffee and More Coffee.

And while you're there, check out Peter's 20 favorite actresses. Among the names and faces are Thai actresses Marsha Wattanapanich from Alone and Lena Christensen from SARS Wars.

Jeeja didn't make the list, and Peter explains why in comments on CelineJulie's Limitless Cinema. His choice for Thai action heroine? None other than the Beautiful Boxer herself, Nong Toom. She has a small role in Mercury Man, also due out on DVD from Magnet.


(Thanks Logboy! Also via Blu-ray.com)