Story of kickboxer-turned-beauty bold yet sensitive

By Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times

Asanee Suwan is Nong Toom, a champion kickboxer in Thailand who eventually became a woman through gender reassignment surgery. "Beautiful Boxer" Unrated In Thai and English, with English subtitles 118 minutes Screening at 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday

In this tantalizing visual manner Uekrongtham introduces the real-life journey that Nong Toom (Asanee Suwan) embarked upon in first becoming Thailand's kickboxing champion and then using his earnings to undergo gender reassignment procedures and surgery in 1999 to become a beauty who embarked on a new career as an actress and model while teaching kickboxing.

This altogether remarkable film is as much of a paradox as Nong Toom: at once poetic and sensitive yet as gritty and hard-hitting as any boxing movie. In the depth of its insight, "Beautiful Boxer," in its unique way, is as accomplished as any classic boxing movie such as "Body and Soul," "Champion," "The Set-Up," "Rocky" or even "Raging Bull." It is also considerably more ironic than any of those films.

If Nong Toom followed a hard, relentlessly challenging path in life, the film suggests, he had considerable good fortune along the way. Born into a hardscrabble farming family, he was drawn early in life to feminine accouterments and activities.

His loving mother (Orn-Anong Panyawong) impressed upon her husband (Nukkid Boonthong) that if their son turned out to be a transvestite, that was their karma — they must accept him as he is. At the same time, she instilled in her son the need to take care of himself and not allow anyone to bully him.

This directive would later pay off when Nong Toom, as a teenager, inadvertently becomes caught up in a kickboxing match at a temple festival. He doesn't like fighting but discovers he has an instinctive knack for the sport and wins the match, taking home winnings much needed by his family.

By this time, Nong Toom had already endured a stint as a novice monk, an experience that had strengthened his spirituality and self-discipline — and the notion that he might just be able to fulfill his dream in this life.

He catches the attention of Pi Chart (Sorapong Chatree), a tough but paternal kickboxing coach who invites him to join his training camp. When Nong Toom begins his rise to the top, he feels compelled to start wearing makeup in the ring, and Pi Chart takes even this in stride. When Nong Toom enters the ring to hoots and hollers, his coach says simply, "Ignore the rest, do your best."

"Beautiful Boxer" is inevitably revealing about attitudes toward the transgendered. As Nong Toom begins to become famous, his gender-bending, after the initial shock, becomes widely perceived as a gimmick.

At this stage Nong Toom was not threatening, a celebrity who stood out from others, eliciting a frisson in his fans as he kissed those he defeated. Nong Toom gave audiences a bit of a thrill.

It was only when Nong Toom became determined to move on to the surgical transformation that he elicited outrage and controversy, some seeing him as heroic, others as besmirching Thai manhood.

Not only did Uekrongtham persuade Asanee Suwan, an actual kickboxing champ, to portray Nong Toom but also inspired him to give a portrayal that warrants being described as Oscar worthy.

Suwan is terrific in the ring and subtle outside it, faultlessly charting Nong Toom's difficult journey. Chatree and Panyawong are every bit as effective as Suwan, as is the entire large supporting cast.

At once an exquisite art film and a rousing, highly charged entertainment, "Beautiful Boxer" captures both the contradictions and the ultimate resolution in Nong Toom's high-profile life.