Nong Toom (Asanee Suwan) is a terrific and talented Thai kick-boxer, a young man who is sensitive to the female side of his personality. As his mother says to her husband, "If my son turns out be a transvestite that is our karma. We must accept him for what he is." Born into a tough hard-working farm family in a small village, Toom was taught not to take any crap from anyone, even if it means using his fists to settle an argument. He embarks on his life with the psychological backing and support of his family, a life that places him in a kick-boxing match where he learns that he has a great talent for the sport. After a short stay at a monastery, he becomes a champion kick-boxer, mastering the masculine and lethal sport of Muay Thai.
Toom's gender bending becomes more and more apparent to his fans as his talent and stature rises in the Thai kick-boxing world. His fans take his wearing makeup and outlandish colored trunks as a gimmick, even when he takes to kissing his defeated opponents. But when Toom decides to pursue a surgical transformation some are outraged, but most see it as insulting and besmirching Thai manhood.
As he lives with his coach and other fighters, a situation that offers no privacy, Toom struggles with taunts that he is demeaning his sport, acting more as a clown, and becomes increasingly aware of people trying to manipulate him. Following a traumatic event in his life, Toom faces his greatest challenge yet, a high-profile fight with a much larger woman wrestler in Tokyo. Toom/Parinaya retires from boxing when he becomes more of a woman, a kathoey (male-to-female transgendered person). Her post-boxing career is acting and modelling.
Based on the true story of Thailand's famed transvestite kick-boxer Parinaya Charoemphol, "Beautiful Boxer" tells through flashbacks about her childhood and teen years before her sex change operation, when she was Nong Toom. This action drama is a touching, funny, ironic, graceful, gritty, and realistic high-concept movie. Shot in 9 provinces across Thailand and in Tokyo, the film also features a series of explosive matches where Nong Toom knocks out most of his opponents in Thailand and Japan. The fight sequences and location shots are beautifully photographed, with many special effects that add to the dramatic effect of the story. A fascinating transgender movie, it also contains lots of eye candy for gay males. It won numerous film festival awards, a GLAAD award, as well as a "best actor" award for Suwan from the Thai movie board. DVD extras include a "making of" featurette, info on the fight sequences, interviews, and a music video. Amornbhong Methakunavudh composed the original music. The screenplay was written by Desmond Sim and Ekachai Uekrongtham, who also directed. In Thai with English subtitles. The English title is "Beautiful Boxer".
