Iron Ladies

A global hit, Yongyoot's debut feature is improbably based on fact: in 1996, a team of khatuey (ladyboys) really did win a Thai national volleyball championship - as men. But this ain't no docu-drama: it offers a deathlessly entertaining mix of riotous comedy, right-on anti-homophobe stings and sporting triumph kicks. The Lampang volleyball team hits the rocks when its macho 'star' leads a mass walkout in protest against the appointment of a lesbian coach. Starting with drag queens Mon and Jung, coach Bee sets about rebuilding the team and ends up with a rainbow coalition of gays and transvestites, with one token transsexual and one token straight. Of course their path to the top is strewn with personal traumas, professional tensions and broken fingernails, but most viewers take the low humour and elements of sit-com in their stride. And many emerge from the cinema dancing with joy.