Nong, not happy as a man, vows to change into a woman (he believes ultimately that he should have been born a woman) and true to his word (this based on a true story) in the latter part of the film, and at the height of the kickboxing profession as a renowned international kickboxer, Nong fulfils his deeply felt wish.

Beautiful Boxer has won two Thai ‘Oscars’ and has since won another 10 film awards around the world, for the honest and very in-depth portrayal of a young kickboxer (you see a great deal of the fights, the training, the pressure in and out of the ring) and a kickboxer who also has desires to be something else and is brave enough to not hide those feelings. Its well worth catching if you fancy seeing it.

http://www.fazed.com/movies/beautiful_boxer.html

Returning to some of its writer-director’s familiar obsessions The Walker finds Paul Schrader on fine form. Woody Harrelson takes the eponymous role as Carter Page III, a ‘walker’ in Washington DC who spends his evenings escorting the city’s aging dames to social events their husbands are too busy to attend.

A gossipy, bitchy queen from a renowned Virginia family, Carter finally finds a backbone when his friend Lynn (Scott Thomas), the wife of a liberal senator, is implicated in the murder of her secret lover. Refusing to name names to the ambitious District Attorney (Hope) assigned to the case, Carter covers up Lynn’s presence at the murder scene. Then pays the price as he’s caught between disloyalty and dishonesty.

An arid companion piece to Schrader’s American Gigolo (1980), The Walker lets that film’s repressed homosexuality out of the closet while offering an askance commentary on political corruption in Washington. Raising his game to play a complex, highly-unsympathetic role, Harrelson excels, even making us care about the fate of his snippy, snide protagonist (no mean feat). It’s a performance with just a hint of Marlon Brando about it - something that’s only enhanced by Harrelson’s dodgy dentures - and it allows him to more than hold his own among the impressive supporting cast of grande dame femmes: Scott Thomas, Lily Tomlin and Lauren Bacall.

Schrader sees Harrelson’s morally ambiguous character as another of his iconic tortured souls: a fantastic montage in Carter’s boudoir recalls the anal perfectionism of American Gigolo’s Julian Kaye, as Carter shows us drawers of folded ties, stacks of cashmere pullovers and neatly arranged cufflinks. The coup de grace is the gentle, strangely touching removal of his toupee.

It brilliantly alerts us to this character’s Achilles heel; as he says himself: “I’m not naïve, I’m superficial”. Like Julian Kaye, Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle or John LeTour (played by Willem Dafoe) in Light Sleeper, Carter is another lonely man who can only truly find himself when murder spins his life out of control. Morality, in Schrader’s world, is only discoverable under duress.

Naturally, Carter is forced to pay for his loyalty. He’s the victim of a vicious witch-hunt. His former friends start a whispering campaign against him. His anti-war artist boyfriend (Bleibtreu) - who makes imposing, agit-prop prints inspired by Abu Grahib - is beaten up. Schrader lays on the threat with menace, exposing America’s inexorable drift rightward since 9/11. The film’s most chilling line is delivered to Carter with casual aggression by Ned Beatty’s Republican senator: “You’re on the wrong side of history. People don’t want your lifestyle.”

Undoubtedly, this is Schrader’s response to the Bush era and the festering sore of Iraq. Yet the film is slightly too oblique. In trying to evoke memories of Watergate (famously, Carter’s father played a part in the hearings), Schrader is making a grander historical point, but it makes the film feel slightly behind the times. Despite this, the filmmakers’ loyal fans will be content. This is a strong and extremely welcome comeback after the hellfire debacle of The Exorcist prequel.

Verdict
A return to form and another entry in Schrader’s ‘God’s Lonely Man’ saga, this murder mystery is hard not to be intrigued by. Harrelson’s brilliant performance is enough to sell it alone.

http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=162354&page=3

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Theatrical Release: Sep 14, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $17,114,882

Synopsis:

The new thriller reteaming acclaimed director David Cronenberg with his A History of Violence leading man Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises is written by Steve Knight (Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Dirty Pretty Things). As in the earlier film, director and star together… [More]

The new thriller reteaming acclaimed director David Cronenberg with his A History of Violence leading man Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises is written by Steve Knight (Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Dirty Pretty Things). As in the earlier film, director and star together explore the psyche, physicality, and fortunes of a man whose true nature may never be wholly revealed. The mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Mr. Mortensen) is a driver for one of London’s most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family itself is part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Headed by Semyon (Academy Award nominee Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant impeccably masks a cold and brutal core, the family’s fortunes are tested by Semyon’s volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), who is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father. But Nikolai’s carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital. Anna is deeply affected by the desperate situation of a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby. Anna resolves to try to trace the baby’s lineage and relatives. The girl’s personal diary also survives her; it is written in Russian, and Anna seeks answers in it. Anna’s mother Helen (Sinйad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna’s irascible Russian-born uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski) urges caution. He is right to do so; by delving into the diary, Anna has accidentally unleashed the full fury of the Vory. With Semyon and Kirill closing ranks and Anna pressing her inquiries, Nikolai unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. The family tightens its grip on him; who can, or should, he trust? Several lives – including his own – hang in the balance as a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution reverberates through the darkest corners of both the family and London itself. — © Focus Features [Less]

Genre: Thriller, Deception, Crime, Violence

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl

Director: David Cronenberg
Screenwriter: Steve Knight
Producer: Paul Webster, Robert Lantos
Composer: Howard Shore

 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eastern_promises