Movie Review: Beautiful Boxer
Kick flick
'Beautiful' tells the true story of transvestite boxer.
By Anita Katz | Special To The Examiner
Published on Friday,
January 21, 2005
URL:
http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/012105a_boxer
Beautiful Boxer
Starring Asanee Suwan, Sorapong Chatree, Orn-Anong Panyawong and Nukkid Boonthong. Written by Ekachai Uekrongtham and Desmond Sim Kim Jin. Directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham. Not Rated. In Thai with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes.
"Beautiful Boxer," a biopic from Thailand, tells the remarkable story of Parinya "Nong Toom" Charoenphol, the transvestite kickboxer who became a champ in the ring so he could earn enough money to have a sex-change operation. Delivering humanity over sensationalism in presenting Nong Toom's journey, writer-director Ekachai Uekrongtham has made an irresistible action flick and heart-warmer.
Were it not for the subtitles, this film might qualify as multiplex fare, so crowd-pleasing is its presentation of Nong Toom's evolution from cross-dressing country kid to post-op cultural icon.
Elements of "Billy Elliot" and "Ma Vie en Rose" tinge the childhood scenes, in which young Nong Toom worries his parents (Orn-Anong Panyawong and Nukkid Boonthong) by displaying unboylike interests. Even monkhood can't quell his keenness for lipstick. Branded a "sissy," he takes up kickboxing to protect himself from bullies.
It's the ticket to his dream. Feeling like a woman inside male skin, the grown-up Nong Toom (played by Thai kickboxer Asanee Suwan) trains with a coach (Sorapong Chatree) and becomes a pro, knowing that the prize money will finance his sex-change operation and help his struggling family. No mere novelty act, despite what some say, the mascara-wearing Nong Toom is a superb fighter and, after surgery, an inspirational symbol of liberation.
The film, Uekrongtham's screen debut, has clunky spots. Uekrongtham and co-writer Desmond Sim Kim Jin's use of a journalist's interview as a framing device is distractive. Additionally, Suwan, an inexperienced actor, doesn't convey the intensity of the personal need that impels Nong Toom, who dislikes brutality, to triumph as a boxer.
But Suwan is a spectacular athlete and handles the gentler material charmingly, and these qualities, along with Uekrongtham's character-drivenness, convince us -- essential for a biopic -- that we're watching somebody extraordinary.
Nong Toom's sweet heroism makes it near-impossible not to like this protagonist, and this movie. Complex and bighearted, he proves embraceable and stirring as feminine traits eclipse masculine ones -- he apologetically kisses his ring opponents after pummeling them, for example -- and as his quest to become a woman unfolds.
The film also scores as sheer entertainment, containing kick-ass action and having fun with its subject's inner girl.