User reviews

I had the good fortune to catch the movie in my country Singapore, where the local audience has been warming up to Thai movies in recent months, no less thanks to other Thai movies in the same league that has made an impact here - notably "Ong Bak" and "Fan Chan".

While Beautiful Boxer marks theatre director Ekachai Uekrongtham's directorial debut in the cinematic stage(previously best known for his Chang & Eng musical), it certainly packs a poignant & powerful punch with a deftly artistic element that will pave the way for his future movies to come.

Actor Asanee Suwan does a fine job as reel-life Nong Toom struggling to make enough money as a thai kick boxer to undergo the knife in his dream to become a real woman. The director treats his audience to a refreshing array of kick boxing stunts coupled with his artistic creativity that makes the action and poignant scenes commendable and touching. The inner struggles faced by Nong Toom as he battle the collision of testosterone and estrogen within his body and soul delivers the true essence and spirit of the movie that makes watching it an uplifting experience. The close relationship and love he gets from his endearing mother soothes his inner pain and cushion the degree of sympathy showered on his potrayal as a pitiful character.

Some of us can probably resonate with his pain and inner conflicts as there are often setbacks that leaves us "emotionally crippled". The reflective scenes with plenty of natural scenary could, however, been better choreographed with more grace to create a more sombre mood. Above all, Asanee potrays the character with tremendous aplomb and steely will, and was duly rewarded with a 2004 Thai Suppanahongsa Best Actor Award.

As my tagline suggests, its rare to see such a testosterone and estrogen charged movie within the same character A commendable effort that will turn the spotlight on finer Thai movies to come. 4 stars out of 5. - Tukta's Sarmee

I recently watched this movie in my Anthropology class. I honestly had no idea what it was going to be about. My first assumption, was that the boxer was a beautiful person and that he turned thai boxing into an art rather than "a violent sport." Than after it was over, I thought it was a great movie. It was even better because it made in Thailand and gave a realistic take on Thai culture. I don't know how accepting people would be here in the United States with a transsexual boxer fighting in makeup. But then again we have the WWE who have an array of different types of characters, so then again it just might be okay. I really enjoyed how he was fighting to help support his family back home and not just for fame and glory. I definitely would recommend this film.

Sylvia Torres Milwaukee, WI

I almost did not believe that this was a true story. I didn't know that this movie would go into that much detail about Toom. The movie followed him from a small boy to full grown man or should I say woman. Also, I did not know that Thai boxing was losing its appeal to the Thailand audience. Now Thai boxing is back in full swing worldwide thanks to Toom. It was very interesting to go into rural and urban Thailand to see the vast difference between the two. I was required to view this movie as part of my class, but in all reality it proved to be one I will remember. Just an overall good movie. This movie has both action for the guys and beauty for the girls so this one might even be a good date movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see the REAL Thailand the country, the people, and the culture or simply a tearjerker that packs a punch.

Beautiful Boxer a coming of age story about a man who wants to be female. In order to earn a living and save enough money, he starts to kick box on a dare at a temple festival. As time goes on, it shows how he is finally accepted by his group of friends who are also boxers. Yes, there were several missteps by his friends, but overall they accepted him for he is, and who they wanted him to be.

It is refreshing to see a third gender represented in another culture, without the shame and stigma attached to it. In this culture we are so obsessed with being perfect and correct that we sometimes alienate ourselves from our friends and families.

Jules

I rarely see films twice, but Beautiful Boxer continues to be a remarkably evocative film even on a second viewing. I saw it last summer at Outfest, and took several friends to see it this weekend, because I knew that they wouldn't see it on their own. It was a third choice film when I first saw it at the festival. I'm not a fan of boxing, and have seen my share of documentaries on the transsexual experience, so I was not particularly interested. Since I hadn't seen a Thai film, I decided to go. What a gratifying surprise the film turned out to be! Beautiful Boxer transcends time, culture, ethnicity, and gender identity to illuminate the humanity of the characters. Asanee Suwan the lead actor who plays Nong Toom is amazing. At the first viewing I thought that there was a very similar looking stunt double who did the fight scenes. Yet in the post film discussion with the Director Ekachai Uekrongtham we learned that the Asanee is an actual Muay Thai professional boxer. This was his first acting role. That makes his performance even more remarkable. He communicates the full range of Toom's being, seamlessly integrating the feminine and masculine dimensions of his/her personality.

In Iron Ladies and in other trans-gender themed films, the transvestites are usually in your face, over the top characters. The gender themes are either campy and/or played for laughs. Beautiful Boxer on the other hand conveys the inner life of the Toom's struggle to assert her identity. I was very moved by Toom's dignity, steadfast courage, and perseverance in coming to terms with who she is. The film is poignant and ultimately inspiring. Yet it is also very entertaining. The film provides a window into Muay Thai boxing, both its beauty and violence, the socio-economic conditions in Thailand, and aspects of Thai culture. It was a most rewarding experience. BTW my friends agreed. GO SEE IT!

Rising even higher than the greatest expectations engendered by the International Press when it became a favorite of the film festivals, BEAUTIFUL BOXER is one of the more poetic, sensitive, luxuriously vivid and colorful films to come out of Thailand - and that is saying a lot, given the extravagant epics that yearly grow in popularity. This work of art is simply stunning in content, in direction, in acting, and in heartfelt simplicity of message. This is a great one! Writer/director Ekachai Uekrongtham based his first film on the true story of Parinaya Charoemphol AKA Nong Toom, a famous Thai athlete Muay Thai boxer (better known as 'kick boxer' - a demanding, dangerous sport) who entered the world of Muay Thai to garner enough money to help his family and pay for his ultimate sex-change surgery. A tough story to offer general audiences, perhaps, but Ekachai Uekrongtham presents this edgy biography with such cinematic finesse and care that it becomes a film that should appeal to a very wide audience. And much of that success is due to the towering performance by Asanee Suwan in his acting debut: Suwan is in life a professional kick boxer who won the title role after extensive auditions by many practitioners of Muay Thai.

BEAUTIFUL BOXER takes us through the life of Nong Toom, his childhood in a family of loving accepting parents who respect his love of beauty and things feminine, his brief period of being a monk who must leave the monastery because of his inclinations, through his introduction to makeup and play-acting women's roles in the Thai theaters, his ridicule as being more girl than boy (a fact that results in his parents' incarceration!), and his devoted friendship with a girl who supports his desire for femininity and a young man who stands up for him in the boys' camp for learning sports. Gradually Nong Toom realizes that the only way he can make enough money to achieve a sex change operation is to become a successful kick boxer and he aligns himself with a trainer Pi Chart (Sorapong Chatree) and with much commitment and practice becomes Thailand's most famous Muay Thai. His self-respect is further established when he openly wears makeup in the boxing ring, causing many to believe his act is a gimmick and not the manifestation of his true transsexualism. He fights the toughest opponents and wins consistently until he at last arrives in Toyko for the 'big purse' of fighting female wrestler Kyoko Inoue (who plays herself). With the money from the fight he is able to have his surgery and becomes the famous actress and model now living in Bangkok.

Under less sensitive eyes and minds this story could have become audacious, but instead the film elects to be sensitive to the transsexual conviction that Nong Toom is a woman trapped in a man's body, and it is the journey of self acceptance and personal victory that makes the story so deeply touching. Asanee Suwan, as a fine athlete, does all of his own fighting in the film and it is more choreography than brutality. He is amazing to watch and coupled with the fact that he is so wholly convincing in his fine acting that he makes this young transsexual utterly credible in movement, emotional density, and purity of vision is an extraordinary achievement.

Yes, the film has a few flaws of editing and other minor aspects, but the overwhelming power of the story more than compensates for those 'first film' learning curves. Highly recommended for ALL audiences, especially for those who fear there will be gratuitous physical scenes that might offend. There are none! Grady Harp

If only he was dead Jean Claude Van Damme would revolve in his grave watching this movie that tells the life-story of a transvestite who became Thailandia's best kick-boxer. Bob Dylan used to sing that "times they're a-changin'", and this story is the living proof of that.

"Beautiful Boxer" is such a tender and sensitive film that deals with the drama of transsexual people. Anyway, those who like martial arts will also enjoy the movie since the fight scenes have been filmed in a more realistic way that Van Damme's or Jackie Chan's stuff.

*My rate: 7/10

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"A Beautiful Boxer" tells a touching story of a girl born into the wrong body, and who, through boxing, would eventually be able to become one through surgery. It's a story about overcoming one's fate.

Nong Toom was interested in dancing, putting on girl's makeup, and wearing woman's clothes from a very early age. His mother comments at the very beginning of the story that it was "just a fad", but it soon becomes clear that this isn't a phase; it's just the story of boy who should have been born a girl.

The writing and filming is solid and so is the pacing with the exception of a few moments. But what makes this film rise above its technical merits is its heart. The acting is superb. At some points, you forget that you're just watching a movie because it's clear that the actors, especially Nong Toom's Asanee Suwan, are really becoming their characters. Thanks to this, we get a plethora of heartfelt moments and really get a feel for a subject area that is relatively untouched, transsexuals. Sometimes transsexuals get a bad rep, but the fact is that these are real people who have to overcome the exceptional struggle of coming to term with their own gender identity while the people around you despise you, bully you, and at times make your life a living hell because they don't really understand.

Overall, Nong Toom is an exceptional movie with a psychological edge that is harshly realistic. I recommend it to everyone, because I believe it's a story that everyone should be familiar with. Transgenderism isn't as rare as people think.

This is an excellent story of determination, focusing on a goal and remaining true to yourself. Inspiring for anyone who has a dream that may seem impossible to reach.

Superb acting from Asanee Suwan (he'll become an international star) and the rest of the cast, plus some breathtaking cinematography in the Northern Thai countryside. The script shows a compassion and understanding for the story, this is not exploitive and it is the easy ability to relate to the character that makes the themes universal.

I am eager to see more from director Ekachai Uekrongtham. His blend of realism and symbolism makes for a poetic visual literature.

The English subtitles on the Hong Kong DVD are fluent and well written. No broken English like you sometimes find on imported DVDs.

Based on the true story of a famous Thai transsexual, Nong Toom, this film is about a championship kick-boxer, who excels in the ultra-macho martial art, purely to raise money to finance his sex-change. While it could have been truly lurid and tasteless, the film has been handled with great seriousness and sympathy, with an excellent performance from a non-actor, real life kick-boxer Asanee Suwan, in the central role. This film brings to mind the similarly sensitively handled "Ma Vie En Rose", the Belgian film from a few years ago. Confused gender identity has been examined in several recent films, but what takes one aback is the testosterone-fueled back-drop against which this story unfolds. The gentle Nong Toom is derided and teased mercilessly for his effeminacy, but it's only when he realizes the one way by he can achieve his female body is via the kick-boxing championship prize money, that he becomes motivated and focused on this unlikely (for him) sport. Thai films are coming of age and the new crop of films and directors do not shy away from uncomfortable issues or controversial topics.

I thought it was a very touching and powerful movie. Parinya Toom showed a lot of courage and heart and stood up for what she wanted to do and believed in herself. I thought a lot more people were understanding in the choice she made and showed that the Thai culture is very understanding. I felt sorry for her, however, when she fought the Japanese professional wrestler because it seemed like more of publicity stunt than a real fight which I think hurt her reputation with the people.

Overall I thought it was a great film and really shows that you can follow through with anything you want to.

Beautiful Boxer is a very sensitive film which portrays a biographical timeline of the life events of the transsexual former Muay Thai Champion, Nong Thoom.

Thoom's story is told in a very sympathetic manner, and it is through the delicate story telling that the audience can see Thoom's struggle of self-acceptance, perseverance, inner courage, and social circumstances.

Nong Thoom's character is portrayed very believably by Asanee Suwan as his debut film. The performance even awarded him the Thailand National Film Association's prize for Best Actor. Through his portrayal of Nong Thoom, it becomes possible for the audience to really gain of a sense of the inner struggle that Thoom endured throughout her life in order to be who she wanted to be.

Aside from the story and it's portrayal itself, a commonly overlooked aspect of the film is it's color and sense of atmosphere. The sequences in particular which depict Nong Thoom's childhood/early years display very lush forest greens, and carry a very soothing atmosphere. Not to say that there were was any graphical/color manipulations applied to the forest scenes (while there may have been slightly, as is the case in practically any film) it is more of how delicately such scenes were treated in terms of atmosphere which was a standout quality to the film. Such relaxing scenes also aid the depiction and communicate the sense that Nong Thoom's childhood, although she was discriminated against in a subtle manner; was lucky enough to still live a peaceful childhood despite her transgender feelings. It could be that through such a base of peace, and (mostly) support around her at a young age, that she was able to persevere at a very consistent rate until she became the most popular Muay Thai Champion in Thailand.

I rate this film highly for it's sense of biographical delicacy, nicely shot fight-scenes, and soothing sense of atmosphere. Biography, martial arts, and drama fans alike all have equal potential to enjoy this film.

Beautiful Boxer is the story of transgender kickboxer Noom Tong, born in a male body and feeling female in her soul, using the God given martial arts skills, to change her gender and become at one with herself. The Thai cast in this production is nearly perfect in presenting her story.

Among the many issues facing transgender individuals is the staggering cost of reassignment surgeries and that even in the face of overwhelming medical and psychological evidence to the contrary, insurance companies still regard a sex change as elective cosmetic surgery. The same classification as they would give a rhinoplasty, nose job to most of you.

As it turns out Thailand is one of a few countries where transgender people go for surgeries. It's expensive and therein lies the tale of Beautiful Boxer. Noom Tang uses the prize monies won in kickboxing to pay for her surgery. While transitioning, she faces a whole lot of evil, but she literally kicks her way out.

Watching this film I was struck with the similarity of this film and Flawless. In Flawless Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a drag entertainer who by chance finds a drug dealer's stash after a shooting and keeps it to pay for her reassignment surgery. It would probably have taken her twenty years of drag shows in order to pay for what she needed. A marketable skill, but not quite marketable enough as kickboxing.

I hope that those who watch the film think of the many who can't earn it, win it, steal it, or stumble on the funds needed. If Beautiful Boxer can make people think about that, it's a public service film.

Or you can just enjoy it and be downright inspired.

Pleasantly filmed and highly entertaining, Beautiful Boxer is a 2004 independent Thai feature from first time director Ekachai Uekrongtham, that gives action fans a chance to catch their breath from the overly saturated market of full-impact, violent martial arts flicks that were released to feed from Ong Bak's success. And there's no doubt that distributors were probably hoping for the same when they put this out to world - but instead, gave fans something a little more special...

In this coming-of-age, coming-out film, and in his first ever role, the super cute Asanee Suwan stars as Nong Toom, a famous transvestite Thai boxer. This wonderful and touching bio-drama still offers plenty of ringside action, but Beautiful Boxer is more about the story of a young boys journey to become what he wants to be, facing many challenges along the way to follow his heart. As the tag-line on the DVD stated, 'it's the tale of a boy who must fight like a man, to become a woman'. As a gay man myself, this true story probably meant a little more to me, and was quite endearing as I watched how he was tricked by religion, hurt by family and friends, and supported by strangers.

Told in flashback, as Nong Toom tells her story to an American reporter, we watch as the young Nong (named Parinya as a young boy), experiences that first moment he knows that he wants to change. While it offers us a little humour, you can see the fear in his fathers eyes, something we see change throughout its story. Beautiful Boxer cruises along nicely without ever being to harsh or loud about its subject matter and how it handles it. If this had been a Hollywood production, it would have been a cliched disaster, but director Ekachai handles things gently with some lovely cinematography, and heartfelt moments!

Asanee Suwan is just brilliant as Nong, delivering a charming and innocent performance as the titular beautiful boxer who wants to please his family, yet be who he really wants to be. Joining a Thai boxing club by defult, Nong trains under the watchful eye of Pi Chart, played by the great Sorapong Chatree of Ong Bak 2 & 3. He quickly rises through the ranks as one of the better fighters, while hiding in the toilets to try on lipstick, and finding an unspoken love with a (very cute) team-mate, that comes back to haunt him later when they face each other in the ring.

As the intense, and full-impact fights continue, Nong starts making a name for himself as the Black Eagle, soon getting into the ring in make-up where he fast becomes a laughing stock. Showing that he is still not a force to be reckoned with, Nong smashes through every wall put in front of him in a very emotional, spiritual and physical way that finally sees him come out the other side as a true winner - even taking on Japanese female wrestling sensation, Kyoko Inoue.

Beautiful Boxer is a different movie, but in a very positive sense. Great performances, along with a nice score and some very touching moments, make this one to watch. Asanee is just brilliant in his role, and I only wish he had went on to do more. As a real-life fighter, he pulls off such a gentle character in a way that is highly convincing, cute and respectful to Nong Toom and the LGBTQ community. The film as a whole offers such a powerful message, illuminating the humanity of each character on screen without overdoing it, or abusing the true story of Toom's journey as a whole...

Overall: Touching and memorable, Beautiful Boxer may have its flaws, but is definitely one to watch for many reasons!

Okay, for some people, this movie might seem pretty risqué and for others it might just be an interesting story that makes them think. But I think at least 99% of people would still think of a man wanting to be a woman and going through with it as a taboo. Even if you yourself think it is OK and accept it as something that happens everywhere, you probably wouldn't wish it on your children, family, or friends and would look twice if you saw someone like that on the street. I think of myself as the latter and I am posting about a part of the movie that caught my interest the most. When Toom came out to sign autographs and was called a disgrace by the distraught woman from Thailand I felt it was unfair for her to judge him. Later when I looked back on it I realized she had a reason to feel that way. Earlier in the movie we got some understanding of their religion (Buddhism) when Toom was sent to become a monk. If 85% of Thai men become monks for at least a short time, it is obviously a religion many of the people in Thailand practice. Therefore, I am assuming this woman believed very strongly the same as did Toom's parents and what the monks were taught. (I mean, not to think "sinful" thoughts) My point, although I'm not sure if I have gotten it across, is that I was wrong. The woman had every right to say what she believed to be true even if it wasn't the nicest thing to say. Different people have different cultures and beliefs and that is why we need our rights. To be free to say what we think and feel which is what this site's for. Yay. -K

The movie gives a sad outlook on that of the Thai culture. It shows how difficult it is for a lower class family to escape from poverty. Very few means are introduced but the one that pays off is kick boxing. Toom, the main character, is initially disturbed by how violent the sport is but is forced into it in trying to save his family, as well as fulfill his wish of becoming a woman. Also, the movie shows a stark difference between that of the Thai countryside and the rapid life of Bangkok. He eventually helps his family and helps shed light to the country about transvestites. The film takes on a lot and tries to put it all in there, but would have been better in leaving some of the corny laughs out of it and sticking to the pace. Also, it tries to introduce to many subplots. All in all, it was a good story, but poorly done.