How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, the debut feature from the writer and director Pat Boonnitipat, is a warm, witty tear-jerker improbably rooted in elder exploitation.
After a dramatic fall at a family get-together, crotchety matriarch Grandma Mengju (Usha Seamkhum) is diagnosed with stomach cancer. She has less than a year to live, a prognosis her adult offspring work to conceal.
Having already watched his mercenary sex-worker cousin (Tontawan Tantivejakul) care for an elderly uncle – and ultimately inherit his house – gamer and deadbeat M (Putthipong Assaratanakul) hatches a similar plan. “You took care of me when I was little,” he says. “Now it’s my turn to take care of you.”
Grandma Mengju is immediately wise to the sudden attention. “What’s with the visits from you all?” she asks when M’s uncles also start calling to her house.
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Slowly, M bonds with his supposed mark. He bathes her, takes her to chemotherapy, serves her food and sleeps beside her. He also guiltily realises that he is less rapacious than his relatives. During a visit to a Buddhist temple, he reads the family prayer cards and discovers that Mengju has prayed for her entire family, while the other family members have prayed only for themselves; M is the only one who prayed for Mengju.
This irresistible film has made a big splash in Asia and beyond, scoring up $50 million in ticket sales worldwide to become the biggest Thai film of the year and the seventh-highest-grossing domestic hit of all time.
The wholesome script, by Boonnitipat and Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn, juggles contemplative moments with Granny’s sardonic zingers. Jaithep Raroengjai’s score gently tugs at the heartstrings. Seamkhum, a non-professional actor who was discovered taking part in a seniors’ dance competition in 2019, is a force of nature and a terrific scene partner for the affecting Assaratanakul.
In cinemas from Thursday, December 26th
