Strong and Moving!

good back-story, and good acting

Am I Missing Something?

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Beautiful Boxer is a touching and meaningful Thai movie by Singapore-based director Ekachai Uekrongtham. Nong Toom's life story is the main subject of the film which is playing by Asanee Suwan, a male kick boxer in the real life. Nong Toom was a Thai boxing champion before but she is a model in Thai today.In the movie, Nong Toom is a transsexual person who faces her real sexuality bravely. I like the film because I really admire her behavior and spirit. The fans of the genre would be satisfied since the impact of the story is really strong. It is difficult to imagine that a masculine man would choose to do a surgery in order to become a femininity lady. The storyline/ structure of the film are wonderful because it not only shows the life of Nong Toom to audience but also displays her internal talk and state of mind which is easy to understand. I can predict that the main character is a male transgender who wanted to become a woman in his childhood. However, it's still a good movie because it's fun to know how people with gender distortion are thinking and feeling. In the film, when Nong Toom was in the childhood, there are many shots about lipstick. Nevertheless, Nong Toom had interests to be a woman is not because of cosmetic but is mindset. He/She hates violence of Thai boxing but he/she loves the beauty of it. He/She joined the competitions was not because of gaining reputation but letting family to have a better life.Beautiful Boxer relates to the society. There are few people who have gender and sexuality problem. Also, these people usually got discriminated. But, we cannot say that being a transgender or transsexual is their fault since they are born this way. "Life will take you on many roads. But only when you look inside, do you find the strength to be yourself?" and "The most difficult thing is try not to forget what you really want to be." I really like these two sentences which Nong Toom mentions when she was interviewing by a western reporter. The film tells us that if you are comfortable with the opposite sex, there is no need to be ashamed of it. Although some people would laugh behind, being what you really are is more important.

"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.

Beautiful movie. Beautiful actor. A testament to the power of the human spirit. I'm viewing it for the 2nd or 3rd time...and it still makes me cry! This movie should inspire struggling gay, lesbian, and transgender people all over the world. Thai boys (and girls!) are exceptionally beautiful, especially the young male beauty who entices Toom to throw the fight. I can see why American tourists flock to Bangkok...and why the HIV rate is so high in Thailand! I wish there had been at least one nude shot of Asanee. When I was fighting in Vietnam in 1969, most African-American soldiers I knew went to Bangkok for R & R, but I didn't because I did not know how a black "gay" soldier would be received...anywhere. So much for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". I guess it would not have mattered because I, like all the other gay men in my Battalion, hid in the closet. Everyone knew. You just didn't talk about it in mixed company. (It would be many years later before I learned about the gay sex trade in Thailand.) BlackMates were always bragging about how Thai people treated them like kings...unlike super-racist Australia and Hawaii. (I guess American dollars helped, cause you know money talks!)Donde esta Asanee Suwan? I want to see more of this gifted young actor.

I suppose many non-Thai action film fans have their first exposure to the Thai martial arts of Muay Thai through movies like Ong Bak or Tom Yum Goong, both starring Tony Jaa. But the Muay Thai scene in Thailand was set abuzz in the 90s when transvestite warrior Nong Toom took to the stage and battled it out with other gladiators, while at the same time battled the prejudice he faced because he was different. Nong Toom was big at one time, with many media around the world following his exploits, as he wore makeup into the ring, and planted kisses on his defeated opponents.Beautiful Boxer is director Ekachai Uekrongtham's first feature film (he also did the movie about our Geylang scene with Pleasure Factory), and the movie is a biography of Nong Toom (played by real kickboxer Asanee Suwan) and his dream of being a woman. Born to poverty and without means to fulfill his dream, he takes on the sport of Muay Thai for its lucrative awards, in part to provide for his family, and also as a means to save up for his sex change operation. His coach Pi Chart (Sorapong Chatree) sees the potential of his protégé, and while he doesn't chide Nong Toom for his feminine ways, had only one request, that he fights like a man in the ring.Similar to various fight sports biopics like Rocky and Cinderella Man, Beautiful Boxer charts the ups and downs of the protagonist, except that it ups the ante with Nong Toom's personal struggles, which present themselves as a bigger challenge with prejudice and misconceptions to fight, instead of the usual fight-against-poverty storyline. And like the movies in the genre, the battle in the ring is a sight to behold, as they get choreographed expertly, yet maintain a romantic, sexy look at the form of the sport. While Nong Toom does battle with various exponents, the filmmakers took great pains to ensure the fights differ from battle to battle, to make it interesting to watch without being repetitive, and we do see certain ancient moves that we've yet to see with the Tony Jaa movies.Asanee Suwan, a first time actor who auditioned for and gotten the role of Nong Toom, played the character with great earnestness, and was extremely convincing in his role as a man who struggles to find a way to bring the inner woman out in him. He made Nong Toom very humane, and you can really feel his pain and triumphs in and outside the ring. Nong Toom in any case was an interesting person to begin with, especially the way he handles discrimination. There were many poignant moments in his story from childhood, and what I thought was quite affecting was how he had to fend for himself in the ring especially - Fighters will find it a lost of face if they lose to someone "less than a man", and this led to fighting Nong Toom more intensely, which of course made Nong Toom fight back even harder. While he couldn't do much about people laughing at him, he had to learn to feed off these negative energy to spur him on to win.It's a movie that works on both the emotional level and the physical side with its fight action sequence, and one of the better sports-fight biopics I have seen. Look out too for a cameo by the real Nong Toom (now known as Parinaya Charoemphol after his sex-change operation). It brought to mind an adage which I shall paraphrase - the person might be different, but the struggles faced are the same.