A young autistic woman teaches herself to fight by mimicking the moves of Bruce Lee and Tony Jaa, and by watching students train at an adjacent martial arts school. When her mother gets sick and old debts go unpaid, Zen sets out to collect them herself, one brutal encounter at a time.

Because she has no filter and a single-track mind, CHOCOLATE (2008) uses Zen's condition not as a disability, but as an incredible martial arts "superpower".

After Ong-Bak made Tony Jaa an international name, Director Prachya Pinkaew went looking for a female counterpart and found Yanin "JeeJa" Vismitananda. In a sly touch, the films her character learns to fight from include Ong-Bak itself.

A taekwondo gold medalist, JeeJa quit university and trained for four years, two in preparation and two during the shoot, often under Tony Jaa's informal mentorship. She also spent time with autistic children to build the role with care rather than caricature.

Then there are the end credits. In the Jackie Chan tradition, they run an outtake reel of the real injuries the production cost her and the stunt team.

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Chocolate was produced in Thailand by Sahamongkolfilm International with a budget of 150 million baht (approx. $4.8 million USD). It was distributed domestically by Sahamongkol Film and internationally through various independent distributors, including Magnolia Pictures in the US.