Director: Pat Boonnitipat
Cast: Putthipong Assaratanakul, Usha Seamkhun
Screenplay: Pat Boonnitipat, Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn
125 mins. Not Rated.

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is a bonafide Thai success. It’s the highest grossing film of the year in Thailand, and one of the country’s biggest releases of all time. It also carries a rather unusual social media presence (once again proving that I’m getting old), with viewers recording their crying reactions to the film. With an interesting title and my own family’s recent matriarchal loss, I didn’t know how this one would land with me, but I’ve learned that its success is certainly warranted.

M (Putthipong Assaratanakul, I Told Sunset About You) is a university-dropout-turned-video-game-streamer who knows little about his grandmother and cares even less, but when he learns of her impending death due to stomach cancer, he turns to his cousin Mui, who gains a wealthy inheritance after caring for another ailing family member, he thinks he can do the same for his grandmother. As he forces his way into her life, he finds that there is much she can teach him about living.

I don’t think it’s unfair to say that one could easily telegraph the full story of How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies from a very early place, but as I’ve said many times, it isn’t the story being told but how it is told that really matters, and director/co-screenwriter Pat Boonnitipat has created some interesting and sweet characters that make the whole of the experience worthwhile. I knew where we were headed for most of the film, but the finale still hit me with a gut punch I hadn’t quite anticipated. Co-writer Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn had envisioned the idea while caring for his own grandparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that shines through the narrative, which evolves into a much more dramatic film that its title would lead one to assume.

Our two leads have such terrific chemistry (when they’re supposed to, that is) that it brought me back to my grandparents, and it’s an amazing feeling to receive from an international movie made a world away. M and Amah (Usha Seamkhun) are relatable, funny, and full of energy.

Now, the film does have a bit of a bloated third act, spending a little too much time on creating surprise in events and plot points that we all expected to happen, but when it finds its footing again, the narrative hits hard at the conclusion, paying off a number of plot and character threads that I did not expect, leaving me teary-eyed and emotional. If only I’d been streaming it…

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is a heartwarming and special story that uses familiar elements to make an emotionally resonant tale of connection and growth. This film is one that might just sneak by you, but I would urge you to seek it out and be moved by both its humor and drama.

3.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe