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Beautiful Boxer Reviewed by Chris Paffendorf, SDAFF writer While it’s only recently become popular in the United States, kickboxing has a long tradition and history in Thailand, its country of origin. The debut film by Ekachai Uekrongtham, BEAUTIFUL BOXER, tells the amazing story of Nong Toom, a champion kickboxer who eventually underwent a sex change operation. Based on a true story, BEAUTIFUL BOXER sets out to show the world of martial arts from an unquestionably unique and feminine perspective.
The story is told in flashback format, as a pre-operative Toom relays his life’s story to an English reporter. Beginning at an early age, Toom was always fascinated by femininity, and equally repulsed by masculinity and violence. He joins a monastery to try to eliminate the “sinful thoughts” that compel him to try on lipstick and makeup to make himself more beautiful, but it is of no use. After he is expelled from the monastery, he joins a traveling monk who explains to him that “the river simply flows wherever it desires.” As a young adult, Toom is goaded into a boxing match at a temple fair, and surprises everyone (including himself) by landing a lucky kick and winning the fight. Buoyed by the prize money, he joins a boxing camp with the sole intention of earning enough money to realize his dream: a sex change operation. Toom’s trainer catches him applying makeup one day, and actually encourages him to wear it in the ring, solely as a gimmick. Yet despite the gimmick, Toom’s boxing skills are second to none, and he kicks and punches his way across Thailand and Japan towards an ultimate goal that is quite different than that of your average pugilist. BEAUTIFUL BOXER is a fascinating take on a difficult subject, yet the movie never becomes sleazy or exploitative. We see Toom’s struggle and frustration over his gender, which dominates his entire life. While tolerance is certainly the message, the real focus of the film is to put a name and face to the issue of transgenderism. Clichés and excessive sentimentalism are avoided, and Toom’s sexual interest is never even discussed. When we see his harrowing first night in the camp, surrounded by nearly naked men, director Uekrongtham is clearly illustrating the difference between homosexuality and transgenderism. Most martial arts films (including the other big recent Thai import, Ong-Bak) feature paper-thin stories that only exist to show off the amazing acrobatic skills of the stars. Often, these “actors” are martial arts champions first, actors second. While Asanee Suwan, the star of BEAUTIFUL BOXER, also began his career in the boxing ring, his performance is realistic and moving. Here we have a real story, which is accentuated by martial arts and not replaced by them. More importantly, the boxing scenes only exist as a metaphor of Nong Toom’s internal struggle. He is not a born boxer, and his style is a defensive one, only striking out when he must, to win the match. In one poignant scene, a tearful and frustrated Toom takes his gender identity aggression out on the heavy bag. Quite a different sight from the typical Rocky-esque training sequences seen in so many sports movies. Every cast member of BEAUTIFUL BOXER does an outstanding job, with no stereotypes or caricatures. The only outlandish character in the film is Japanese wrestler Kyoko Inoue, who plays herself. Asanee Suwan won the Best Actor Award at the 2004 Thai Oscars, and deservedly so. Thailand is rapidly becoming a major player on the international film circuit, and BEAUTIFUL BOXER is clear indication that we’ll be seeing many more great Thai films in the very near future. 
Exclusive engagement of BEAUTIFUL BOXER at Landmark’s Ken Cinema |
11TH FILM FEST OCT 21-28, 2010
