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Beautiful Boxer

2003 Thai film

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Beautiful Boxer (Thai: บิวตี้ฟูล บ๊อกเซอร์) is a 2003 Thai biographical sports film produced, directed and co-written by Ekachai Uekrongtham. It tells the life story of Parinya Charoenphol (a.k.a. Nong Toom), a famous kathoey, Muay Thai fighter, actress and model. Charoenphol was portrayed by male kickboxer Asanee Suwan.

01Cast

  • Asanee Suwan as Nong Toom / Parinya Charoenphol
  • Sorapong Chatree as Pi Chart
  • Orn-Anong Panyawong as Parinya Charoenphol's mother
  • Nukkid Boonthong as Parinya Charoenphol's father
  • Sitiporn Niyom as Nat
  • Kyoko Inoue as herself (female Japanese wrestler)
  • Sarawuth Tangchit as Parinya Charoenphol (as a child)
  • Keagan Kang as Jack the reporter

02Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 36 critics. The website's critical consensus reads: "Beautiful Boxer blends boxing and identity politics to create a striking, if overdrawn, portrait of self discovery."

There was controversy in Thailand about the full frontal nudity in this film. For the Thai release, the nudity was cut.

The movie was highlighted in the book Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology as an example of films focusing on gender dysphoria.

03Awards and nominations

Won
Nominated
Watch videos about Beautiful BoxerExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Beautiful Boxer, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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