Cinema 2004 was muy, muy macho. Just scope out the year’s flicks, ranging from Anchorman to The Aviator, and it seems clear that moviemakers and audiences were intent on exploring male identity, post-Sept. 11, post-dot-com bomb, in the throes of a continuing war on terror.
So is there a better way to explore masculinity and aggression than through boxing movies?
Well, filmmakers aren’t falling for that Raging Bull. And now there’s Ekachai Uekrongtham’s Beautiful Boxer, the story of a Thai transgender kickboxer, based on the life of the real fighter-turned-model Nong Toom. Alive and kicking with a flashy premise, glam trappings, sly humor and tender melodrama, Beautiful Boxer combines the archetypal pleasures of shopping, wardrobe changes and makeup palettes (germane to a girlie flick) with the ordinarily all-boy action of a sporting drama and a coming-of-age yarn.
Parinya Charoenphol (portrayed by real-life kickboxer Asanee Suwan), otherwise known by the nickname Nong Toom, knows from an early age that he has a real attraction to makeup and fancy dresses — as a child he’s riveted both by the pageantry of traditional Thai dance and the excitement of Muay Thai, or Thai boxing. Despite the puzzled and slightly disturbed response from his father and a confused reaction by his mother (Orn-Anong Panyawong), who beats him when he is bullied by his younger brother, Toom cherishes his ideals of feminine beauty even when he is indoctrinated into a monastery as a teen. When Toom refuses to relinquish lip-gloss, bad karma results: His mother gets tossed in prison, his father is injured and Toom himself plunges into despair. A kindly transgender beauty comes to his aid, and feminine beauty becomes a source of gentleness and goodness for the young boy.
But Toom’s path toward a sex change is diverted when, visiting a kickboxing camp with a friend, a coach (Sorapong Chatree) recognizes the teen’s talent and recruits him to the rigorous training of a professional fighter. Still, you can’t keep a good glam boy down, and with the help of a female friend, he courageously enters the ring with a painted face, dealing with the taunts and jeers of his fellow students with patience and grace outside the arena while beating them silly in the ring. And in the process of revealing his true desires, Toom becomes a star, traveling to Japan to battle a top female wrestler, Kyoko Inoue (played by the athlete herself), while following his dream of eventually undergoing a sex change.
Uekrongtham directs and produces the film with splashy, cheesy flair, working with higher production values than one might expect for a Southeast Asian tranny film. He lingers on details like silky clothing, rosy makeup and the boxer’s Loverboy-like headdress, but more importantly he takes the time to capture the pleasure on Jet Li-lookalike Suwan’s face as he discovers his inner fighting femme. Suwan earned a 2004 Supannahongsa Award, or a Thai Oscar, for Best Actor, for his affecting, empathetic work.
Admittedly Beautiful Boxer isn’t breaking stylistic ground. The director borrows from other sports films like Chariots of Fire when it comes to the training sequences, and he sutures those hypermasculine scenes to those of a womanly awakening, as Toom revels in creating a new face and finds comfort among female friends, all while fending off girlish groupies and threatening bruisers and the occasional cross-dressing contender. The overall effect is high camp with a tender heart and a message of acceptance — a sweet relief in these days of amplified, problematic masculinity in the multiplexes. Why fight it? Uekrongtham and the real-life Toom seem to say that beauty and boxing can coexist in peace.