The Thai blockbuster How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is an emotional comedy-drama that blends filial piety and greedy schemes to a multi-faceted conclusion. Filled with family complications, the film revolves around a sluggish young adult who leaves his not-so-prosperous toy-picking career to care for his terminally ill grandmother.
The smoothly crafted and leisurely paced film marks the debut of Thai director Pat Ponitipat and has achieved box office records at home and throughout Southeast Asia. With an engaging cast led by actor and pop singer Putthipong “Belkin” Asaratanakul and 78-year-old Osha “Tayo” Simkhum, it makes the universal central message of cherishing those we love while there’s still time.
How many successful films begin and end in a cemetery? It’s where we first meet the tough, critical grandmother of the title, a Thai woman of Chinese descent. She guides her extended family in Qingming ceremonies to honor her parents’ grave. The ancestors are located in what one of Grandma’s adult children euphemistically refers to as a “townhouse” burial position—that is, on top of each other. The grandmother longs for a plot of land to bury herself on her own, but that would cost millions of baht and is out of reach for most of her grandchildren.
After a small accident sends Grandma to the hospital, it turns out she may be back in the cemetery sooner than she thought, when her doctors discover stage 4 cancer. Her children – daughter Sue (Sarinrat Thomas), eldest son Kiang (Sanya “Do” Konnakorn) and ne’er-do-well younger son Swee (Pongsathorn “Fuak” Jungwilas) – bicker over what to tell her and how to help her. .
Meanwhile, Siu’s aimless, stay-at-home son, M (Assaratanakul), volunteers to take care of Grandma, not because he wants to repay the older woman who partly raised him, but because he imagines she might leave. He has her house. Despite this less than admirable motive, M and his prickly grandmother eventually get along well and develop mutual respect. He joins her on her early morning candy-selling expeditions, takes her to the hospital for chemotherapy and on the train to visit estranged family members. After about 70 minutes, she reluctantly told him, “It’s good to have you. It’s fun.”
As M remains quietly obedient, he sees how his sacrifice benefits his overworked single mother and, by comparison, how little time and care Kiang and Soei actually contribute, despite everything their mother has done for them. Here, Punitipat and co-screenwriter Thodsapoon Thiptinakorn develop another theme, showing how women in patriarchal Thai society often get the short end of the stick. For example, Grandma’s older brother does not want to help her financially, even though she was their parents’ primary caregiver and he received all the family inheritance. The seamstress sums it up pretty well when she said regretfully: “Sons inherit assets and daughters inherit cancer.”
When Grandma takes a turn for the worse, instead of coming together, her family falls apart in petty squabbles over a potential inheritance. Fortunately, the screenwriters throw in a few good twists before the matriarch is finally buried. Assaratanakul (who is also of Thai-Chinese descent like co-writer Thiptinnakorn) got the chance to show off his singing skills… in Cantonese.
According to the press kit, Simkhum, who had previously performed only in commercials, was selected from more than 100 candidates for the lead role. The choice pays off as Seamkhum delivers a feisty performance that avoids maudlin undertones.
The main thing that seems out of place during the show’s long run is a subplot involving M’s attractive cousin Mui (the gorgeous actress and model Tontawan “Tui” Tantivejakul) as a skilled nurse who is the granddaughter of every old person’s dreams. If its story had been better integrated, it would have better supported the main theme, and made the screenplay (and film length) tighter.
Although the colorful technology credits don’t really present a picture of Bangkok as a major city, they do depict the old neighborhoods and old roads that will be changed forever with the absence of Grandma’s generation.