In the early days of the pandemic, after the novelty wore off and the uncertainty and anxiety began to wind up, RZA launched an online cinema featuring pay-per-view screenings of 35mm prints of classic kung fu cinema titles like my favorite Shaw Brothers film, The Five Deadly Venoms, and Shaolin vs. Wu Tang — the movie that gave the Wu-Tang Clan their name. The screenings teamed up with local cinemas to share profits at a time when indoor theaters were shuttered, and they featured a live audience chat and commentary from RZA and martial arts cinema personalities like Michael Jai White. In addition to RZA’s rap career, he’s done scores for movies by Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino, and he’s made four feature films including his new contemporary crime-fu drama, One Spoon of Chocolate.
RZA hosted his pandemic screenings via his 36 Cinema platform. As viewers returned to theaters, RZA pivoted his project into 36 Cinema Distribution — they’re releasing the new film which is being promoted as a Quentin Tarantino production. Writer-director RZA crafted One Spoon of Chocolate as a satirical action thriller that blends blaxploitation homage with contemporary social commentary. The film starts with a brutal cold open before cutting to a dramatic epic title sequence homage that reveals Randy “Unique” Jackson training martial arts in a cramped jail cell. In a handful of wordless scenes scored to lo-fi beats and a mournful Spanish guitar, RZA shows us Jackson serving his time and being released from jail, fully establishing viewers’ solidarity with the antihero before they even know his name. It’s a masterful beat and RZA’s capacity for shifting deftly and purposefully between moods is part of what makes this such an accomplished collage of genre mashing. Cinematographer Brandon Cox shot the film, editor Joe D’Augustine assembled it, and Tyler Bates composed the score alongside RZA.
Randy “Unique” Jackson (Shameik Moore) is a military veteran and ex-convict seeking a fresh start when he lands at a shelter for veterans hoping to have his parole transferred to Ohio so he can be closer to family. In an enigmatic bit of foreshadowing, Jackson — who’s known for his temper — blows a gasket about the “one spoon of chocolate” that somebody left in the bottom of the cocoa tin. An old timer stirs that last portion into a big glass of cold white milk saying, “One spoonful of chocolate can change the whole glass. One spoonful of chocolate, that’s why they fear you. They scared of the changes you bring.” It’s the kind of prophetic line you’d hear from a monk or a mad forest wizard in a Hong Kong fisticuffs fantasy, and it’s emblematic of the East meets West, Hong Kong Hip Hop aesthetic that’s defined RZA’s sprawling Wu-Tang universe.
After getting transferred to the small town of Karensville, Ohio, Jackson has an altercation with a local gang. He begins investigating the disappearance of young Black men in the area, including his cousin Lonnie (Isaiah R. Hill). His search reveals a horrifying conspiracy that finds One Spoon of Chocolate wandering into gore territory and adds RZA’s movie to a list of violent contemporary films like Django Unchained, Nope, BlacKkKlansman, and Sinners featuring Black heroes set against organized, ritualized — even medicalized — white supremacist cults. One Spoon of Chocolate doesn’t reinvent the revenge movie arc, but RZA uses his story transitions to decorate this movie with character-driven scenes that ground the film in reality and give Jackson more emotional gravitas than viewers may find in the blaxploitation and kung fu cinema classics that inspired this film.
Instead of waiting to become the next victim, Jackson studies a survivalist manual, builds an arsenal of improvised weapons and forms a small platoon of his own. And if that’s the kind of sentence that gets you excited for a crime/drama/horror/martial arts film, this one is for you.
One Spoon of Chocolate is now playing in limited release nationwide.
Joe Nolan is a critic, columnist and performing singer/songwriter based in East Nashville. Find out more about his projects at www.joenolan.com.