Beautiful Boxer

When someone described Beautiful Boxer for a few weeks ago, I could only laugh. "It's about a Chinese guy who's a kickboxing champion and at the same time a transvestite who wants a sex change", was the description. After laughing, I remembered that I love Asian movies, and I really like kickboxing, so this could actually end up really good. And it did.

We follow the true story of Toom (though he was really called Parinya Charoenphol), a little boy from Thailand whose life changes drastically when he finds a lipstick. At first he puts it on and just makes a little theatre for his family for laughs, but then he really likes it, and he keeps using it as he grows up.
As a teenager, a friend of his, takes him to a fair to see a dance (her friend's knows about Toom), but on their way there, they also stop at a kickboxing ring where other teenagers, including Toom's brother, where preparing to fight, and after some confusion, Toom himself ends up scheduled for one of the fights. Despite having never fought before, he ends up winning, and as the crow cheers him up, he gets really happy, and loves it, and decides to keep doing it.

Some time later, while in boxing camp, a female resident friends learns about Toom, and decides to help him, via make up. Then the trainer sees him in makeup, and thinking it'll help distract the opponents, encourage Toom to wear the makeup while fighting, and that's when the Beautiful Boxer was born.

The movie is filled with great kickboxing fights, some very nice shots of cities from Thailand and Japan, very good performances (Toom is played as a teenager by Asanee Suwan), and a touching story about a boy fighting because he wanted to be a girl.