THE PAIR OF AMERICAN tourists with the flowery shirts and florid faces almost choke on their outsized Planet Hollywood burgers. 'That's a guy? That's really a guy?'
They are referring to Gokgorn Benjathikul, one of the stars of Satree Lex (The Iron Ladies), a statuesque beauty with a bountiful body, flowing dark tresses and an uncanny resemblance to Hong Kong actress Sandra Ng Kwan-yu, sitting beside her. Gokgorn also happens to be - technically - a man.
The film, a katoey story based on the true tale of a transvestite volleyball team from an obscure province in Thailand which battles prejudice and narrow minds to carry off the national championship, has taken the country by storm. It's classic underdogs-triumph-over-adversity stuff; a mascara'd fiesta of fake nails and falsies. Think Cool Runnings meets Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert. Made for just US$270,000 (HK$2.1 million), Satree Lex has raked in more than US$1.7 million at the box office in Thailand, making it the second most popular Thai film so far after last year's saga of ghostly love, Nang Nak.
Director Yongyooth Thongkongtoon, film company Tai Entertainment and local distributors Golden Scene have high hopes to replicate this success when the film opens in Hong Kong on Thursday. A version dubbed in Cantonese by stars including Ekin Cheng and Sandra Ng will play in 19 cinemas, while the Thai version will screen in three.
The director, cast and two of the real volleyball players have assembled in Planet Hollywood, along with Ng and Cheng, to talk up the film - hence the stunned-goldfish gapes of the elderly Americans.
Certainly the scene is somewhat surreal and not a little confusing: a gender-bending potpourri of boys who are girls who like boys, boys who like boys, and straight actors who play boys who play sport as girls and fight over boys.