Thursday, July 24, 2008

French Muay Thai boxing picture Chok Dee gets U.K. DVD release

Chok Dee: The Kickboxer is a 2005 French film that was shot in France and in Bangkok.

In a story loosely based on his book, boxer Dida Diafat stars as an ex-con who learned Thai boxing in a French prison, and upon his release, came to Thailand to enroll in a Muay Thai academy.

The DVD was released in the U.K. last month, and now DVD Times has a review. Here's an excerpt:

He has to start at the bottom, cleaning toilets before he can earn the respect of his teachers and peers, who are evidently suspicious of a foreigner in their midst. What do you reckon the chances are that he’ll gain that respect and go on to greater things? You can admire the smooth efficiency of the film’s as the storyline falls into place, but at the same time it’s predictable and consequently it holds no dramatic tension whatsoever – you know that despite the minor setbacks he suffers along the way, his determination and dedication, not to mention his vow to his poor mother, will see him through.

The Thai cast includes Florence Vanida Faivre from Siam Renaissance. She plays a love interest for the protagonist. And Sombat Metanee figures in there somewhere too. The director is Xavier Durringer.

The disc is a Region 0 release, with the original French-English-Thai soundtrack that offers English subs on everything but the English dialogue. Or there's an English dub track that dubbed everything but the Thai, so they offer subtitles for those bits.

The U.K. DVD release of Chok Dee follows a festival screening in May at the Tiger Far East Film Festival in London.

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