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Beautiful Boxer [DVD]

Sorapong Chatri (Actor), Asanee Suwan (Actor), Ekachai Uekrongtham (Director) Rated:
Unrated
Format: DVD
4.6 out of 5 stars 151 ratings
$24.50
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Additional DVD options Edition Discs
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DVD —
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DVD
August 9, 2005 		—
1
$24.50
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DVD —
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Genre Drama
Format AC-3, Dolby, Subtitled, DVD, Color, NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned
Contributor Orn-anong Panyawong, Asanee Suwan, Ekachai Uekrongtham, Kyoko Inoue, Sitiporn Niyom, Natcha Bootsri, Sorapong Chatri, Somsak Tuangmukda See more
Runtime 1 hour and 58 minutes
Color Color

Product Description

Based on the true story of Thailand's famed transgendered kickboxer, Beautiful Boxer is a poignant action drama that punches straight into the heart and mind of a boy who fights like a man so he can become a woman. Believing he's a girl trapped in a boy's body since childhood, Parinya Charoenphol (affectionately known as Nong Toom in Thailand) sets out to master the most masculine and lethal sport of Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) to earn a living and to achieve his ultimate goal of total femininity.

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.78:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.75 inches; 2.88 ounces
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Ekachai Uekrongtham
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ AC-3, Dolby, Subtitled, DVD, Color, NTSC, Widescreen, Closed-captioned
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 58 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ August 9, 2005
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Sorapong Chatri, Asanee Suwan, Orn-anong Panyawong, Kyoko Inoue, Sitiporn Niyom
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Tla
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0009WPMA2
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 151 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
151 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this movie to be a wonderful film with decent production and an inspirational story. The acting receives positive feedback, with one customer noting how it portrays characters with compassion and dignity. They appreciate the language, with one mentioning good subtitles, and one review highlighting the interesting view of Thai transgender culture. The movie effectively conveys themes of overcoming obstacles and pursuing personal truth.

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Movie qualityStory qualityLgbt contentActing qualityLanguageOvercoming obstacles
21 customers mention "Movie quality"21 positive0 negative

Customers find this movie to be a wonderful film with decent production values.

"This film will surprise you. It is a beautiful film with outstanding acting and a sincerely expressed message about diversity and self acceptance...." Read more

"This is a wonderful movie about Nong Toom a Thai Muay Tai fighter who transitions...." Read more

"Great movie." Read more

"...A well done gem of a film for anyone who has struggled with their identity and has desired to become someone else." Read more

10 customers mention "Story quality"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the movie's story wonderful and inspirational, with one customer highlighting its depiction of the beauty of the human spirit and another noting its simple yet engaging plot.

"...It is a fun and innocent story, and nothing erotic, which is great because trans people are people and not exotica...." Read more

"...This is not one of those movies! This movie is an awe inspiring depiction of the humanity of a good person who happens to be a transsexual...." Read more

"...It was not a disappointment. The plot is simple enough, as are most impossibly difficult situations in life...." Read more

"This is a wonderful story, well told and well acted. I was pleased to find a copy with English sub titles. Nong Toom is a very courageous person." Read more

6 customers mention "Lgbt content"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the movie's LGBT content, with one customer noting its interesting view of Thai transgender culture, while another mentions it provides a sincere message about diversity.

"...It is a beautiful film with outstanding acting and a sincerely expressed message about diversity and self acceptance...." Read more

"An interesting view of the Thai transgender culture and struggle one person has while dealing with the struggle to live and provide for his family." Read more

"...A SON THAT IS BISEXUAL, THIS MOVIE WAS VERY WELL DONE AND SHOWS JUST A HINT OF WHAT GAY'S OR BISEXUALS GO THROUGH, NOT TO MENTION THE CAREICTORS..." Read more

"...They did not show any gay scenes, although some were alluded to in one bath scene...." Read more

4 customers mention "Acting quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers praise the acting in the movie, with one noting how it is portrayed with compassion and dignity.

"This film will surprise you. It is a beautiful film with outstanding acting and a sincerely expressed message about diversity and self acceptance...." Read more

"...Very good acting on part of the Asian talent, and this is now one of my favorite movies in regards to inspirational trans stories...." Read more

"...and the personal odyssey of the main character is portrayed with compassion and dignity." Read more

"Good Muay Thai, ok acting..." Read more

4 customers mention "Language"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the language features of the movie, with one mentioning the good English subtitles and another noting the helpful wordings at the top.

"This is a wonderful story, well told and well acted. I was pleased to find a copy with English sub titles. Nong Toom is a very courageous person." Read more

"...good thing is, it has an english subtitle." Read more

"...real self I give it a thumbs up wish it was in englsh but the sob titles were good it is a art film the a action move ...." Read more

"Movie is great. Wordings at the top. Special festures not included...." Read more

3 customers mention "Overcoming obstacles"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the movie's portrayal of overcoming obstacles, with one customer highlighting how the protagonist pursues personal truth despite challenges.

"...The film is about overcoming obstacles to pursue personal truth and this makes the unique situation relevant to everyone on their path toward..." Read more

"...to appeal to audiences who like stories about real people and overcoming obstacles. Great film and cinematography." Read more

"...I love how the movie focuses her good hearted nature and determination and not on the shock value that most movies tend to focus on...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • C. Collins
    5.0 out of 5 stars The quest for personal truth
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This film will surprise you. It is a beautiful film with outstanding acting and a sincerely expressed message about diversity and self acceptance. It would be so easy for a young transgender person who becomes a champion kick boxer to be satirized but this film takes the total high road and we get a wonderful film that feels genuine even if the story line seems like something out of a grocery store tabloid magazine. After seeing the film I can understand why the international film community loved this movie.

    The film is based on a true story of a champion kick boxer, Nong Toom, who enters kick boxing almost accidentally and finds that he could make enough money to pay for his sex change operation. But do such circumstances rise our of thin air? Of course not and the film explores the childhood and adolescence of this highly appealing young man who wants to be a woman.

    Asanee Suwan plays Nong Toom and his portrayal is exceptional. Suwan is a professional kick boxer which makes all the athletic scenes very authentic, but his acting skills also make all the painful life events touching. A transgender person feels from childhood that they are the opposite sex and this film starts with Nong Toom's childhood and explores how siblings and parents react to a little boy who wishes he was a little girl. Another significant character was Nong Toom's trainer Pi Chart who sees the potential in Nong Toom to become a champion kick boxer.

    The film is about overcoming obstacles to pursue personal truth and this makes the unique situation relevant to everyone on their path toward allowing their true self to emerge.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Star Wand
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fighting to Be The Person You Were Meant to Be
    Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    "Beautiful Boxer" is based on the true life story of muay Thai fighter Nong Toom. Toom was born biologically a male and from an early age we see Toom embrace his feminine side, putting on make up and giving dance performances as a child to the delight of his mother and brother, but to the disapproval of his father. Toom struggles with his identity as he goes from Buddhist monk trainee to selling souvenirs on the street. Although he has no interest in fighting initially, his brother drags him to a camp, where the trainer sees Toom kick and decides to train him. The coach's wife and his female friend support him as he explores his gender identity and decides to fight to become the woman he has always wanted to be. One of the most touching scenes in the film is when his father gives his permission for him to have the surgery. A well done gem of a film for anyone who has struggled with their identity and has desired to become someone else.
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  • CMYK2000
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and cute story.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    First off, a very decent production. It's the story of Nong Toom, the infamous transgender Thai boxer, and, so, it is biographical in that respect. Very good acting on part of the Asian talent, and this is now one of my favorite movies in regards to inspirational trans stories. It is a fun and innocent story, and nothing erotic, which is great because trans people are people and not exotica. I'd say this is an indie art film that does a very good job to appeal to audiences who like stories about real people and overcoming obstacles. Great film and cinematography.
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  • Danielle
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excelent movie depicting the beauty of the human spirit.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    There are a few movies out there involving transsexuals, and most of them I've come across are really awful--they tend to portray transsexuals in a comical or sexual way for entertainment and nothing else. This is not one of those movies! This movie is an awe inspiring depiction of the humanity of a good person who happens to be a transsexual. I love how the movie focuses her good hearted nature and determination and not on the shock value that most movies tend to focus on. I think that even if you are one of those people who thinks transsexuals are of the devil then even you would be moved by her story.
    Helpful
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  • Windwolfess
    4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to a different world!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    I first heard about this person nearly 10 years ago when I was moderating a website for transsexual athletes. One of the members was an Italian woman who boxed in Italy before she transitioned. I was fascinated with what she wrote about this Thai kickboxer who had become a champion as she transitioined, and read what I could on the web. When I heard of this movie some years later, I was very anxious to see it. It was not a disappointment.

    The plot is simple enough, as are most impossibly difficult situations in life. A young boy in an impoverished rural family wishes for nothing more than to live as a girl. However, this is not what people in his rural society expect of a little boy. At a local festival, while awestruck with some traditional dancing that is going on and mostly attended by women, he is entered into a kick boxing tournament that boys at the fair can sign up for, and surprisingly wins his bout. One thing leads to another and he finds himself in a special school for aspiring kick boxers that is the first rung on a system of schools that feed into the Thai national pastime. It is not easy for him to fulfill his need to live as a girl and exist, let alone succeed, in a sport strongly tied to a violent male culture. The movie is about his very public transition as a professional kick boxer and his ultimate fulfillment to live fully as a woman that this career has afforded him.

    The movie, though, is about a person's public and private struggle to escape the societal rules and conventions that keep him from truly living as the person she is. It provides a strong life lesson that the only way to become who you are and succeed at life is to be who you are and not to copy others who are successful. Each must find her or his own path; it is not another's path that will lead to fulfillment. It is a beautiful film about struggle and acceptance, despair and ultimate triumph. This movie is uplifting for all, and the fact that it follows a transsexual kick boxer is only the vehicle for exploring these themes. I found this to be one of the most beautiful and uplifting films that I have seen in a long time.
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  • MAC Retired
    5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and worth watching.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    An interesting view of the Thai transgender culture and struggle one person has while dealing with the struggle to live and provide for his family.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Jean Marc
    5.0 out of 5 stars Liberté
    Reviewed in France on June 28, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    Ce film est une illustration de la vraie Thaïlande ....
    Ce film est beau !
    Le réalisateur à réussi à restituer l'esprit de la Thaïlande, un pays magnifique avec des personnes magnifiques , ces personnes qui admettent les choses quand elles sont vraies....
    La vraie Nong Toom était en garçon plus beau que l'acteur et en femme la comparaison n'est pas possible tant Nong Toom est devenue belle après son opération...
    C'est une vraie star en Thaïlande
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  • Martin Ostermann
    5.0 out of 5 stars "Folge deinem Herzen"
    Reviewed in Germany on December 11, 2005
    Verified Purchase
    Es sind mitunter ziemlich abwegige Geschichten, die das wirkliche Leben erzählt. Nong Tooms alias Parinya Charoenphols Biografie hätte man als Drehbuch höchstwahrscheinlich abgelehnt, weil viel zu unglaubwürdig: Ein Jugendlicher, der seine Geschlechtsumwandlung damit finanziert, dass er in einer der brutalsten Sportarten, dem Thai-Boxen, Erfolge feiert?
    Um es gleich vorweg zu nehmen: Die Inszenierung ist manchmal etwas zu melodramatisch und die Naturbilder etwas zu schön gemalt, aber besonders durch das sehr intensive Spiel des Hauptdarstellers vermittelt sich diese ungewöhnliche Geschichte und wird zu einem humanen Plädoyer für das Anderssein und die Frage nach dem, was eigentlich normal ist.
    Niemand wird einem Thai-Boxer, der zudem noch 20 von 22 Kämpfen gewinnt, die Männlichkeit absprechen. Aber der Eindruck wird schon getrübt, wenn dieser plötzlich wie eine Frau geschminkt in den Ring tritt und sich als Transvestit bezeichnen lässt.
    Noong Toom fühlt bereits als Junge, dass in seinem Körper eigentlich ein Mädchen schlummert. Nur wenige Menschen in seinem Umfeld akzeptieren dieses Gefühl als authentisch und so kann Noong auch nur zu wenigen Menschen wirklich Vertrauen fassen. Bei einem, einem anderen Jungen aus der Boxschule, der später als sein Gegener im Ring auftreten wird, wird dieses Vertrauen einmal mehr enttäuscht, - eine der eindrücklichsten Szenen des Films. Noong kämpft weniger mit den sportlichen Gegnern im Boxring, die er manches Mal allzu mühelos besiegt, sondern sein Kampf findet innerlich statt. Es bedarf vieler leidvoller Erfahrungen und Demütigungen bis er konsequent seinen Weg geht und sich hinterher der Geschlechtsumwandlung unterzieht.
    Am Ende des Films sieht man eine schöne Frau als Ehrengast bei einem Tempelfest, einem ähnlichen Fest, wo auch er seinen ersten, verabscheuten Kampf bestritten hatte. Zwei kleine Jungs treten im Thai-Boxen gegeneinander an. Der eine ist geschminkt und vollzieht einen rituellen Tanz, so wirkt er wie eine verkleinerte Kopie von Noong damals. Der jetzt zur Frau gewordene Noong tritt an den Ring heran und fragt den Jungen, ob auch er sich als Mädchen fühle. Dieser verneint und deutet auf seinen Trainer, der das Schminken als Werbegag verlange. Noong wischt behutsam die Schminke aus dem Gesicht des Jungen und sagt: "Folge von jetzt an deinem Herzen und sei, wer du bist."
    Zu sein, wie man wirklich ist, ist dann die Botschaft dieser wahren Geschichte - gegen alle Widerstände und notfalls auch kämpfend. Sehenswert!
    Auf der Zusatz-DVD der Specail Edition sind neben Trailer und Musikclips auch noch Interviews mit Regisseur und Hauptdarsteller enthalten, in denen man mehr über die Hintergründe zur Entstehung des Films und der wahren Geschichte des Mannes erfährt, der heute als Model und Schauspielerin in Bangkok lebt und immer noch zu einem der erfolgreichsten Thai-Boxer des Landes zählt.
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  • fran
    4.0 out of 5 stars buena y realista pelicula sobre un caso real
    Reviewed in Spain on November 11, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    muy buena pelicula basada en hechos reales y sobre todo muy realista para los conocedores de este arte marcial, recomendada para los amantes del muay thai mas realista sin coreografias fantasticas.
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  • C. Weller
    5.0 out of 5 stars "Spectacular and Original"
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2008
    Verified Purchase
    Totally original, based on a true story with outstanding performances makes this film "Simply supherb".

    This film would apeal to all as it has the most SPECTACULAR kick boxing scenes performed by thailands elite and many emotional moments that had me crying buckets....

    A powerful film that is a breath of fresh air if you need a bit more mental stimulation than the recycled junk that plagues so many films nowadays.

    I do not doubt this film would of been a blockbuster if it had the marketing budget of a hollywood film. It was in Thailand and it has received top reviews all around the globe.

    A big well done to the actors and directors who made such a wonderful film. One of the best EVER!

    "SEE THIS MOVIE" you will not be dissapointed.
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  • Kenneth O. Connor
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Movie!
    Reviewed in Canada on September 25, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    This enchanting & thought-provoking film about a young transgendered boxer follows his career from start to stardom. Beautifully filmed and very well acted by some amateur actors from Thailand. The camera doesn't shy away from the gritty aspect of boy prostitution in Asia so I'd recommend this one with caution. Otherwise... 5 Stars!
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