How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
The Thai family drama “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” is less about a wailing family of schemers who are greedy and unhappy and more composed than one would expect from a film of such themes. Usually, it doesn’t take very long to figure out what drives the characters, as there is a fair degree of commonality in the obsessions among them to win over Grandma Menju (Usha “Taew” Seamkhum) and get the family house they desire. Following this, we have M. (Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul), a college waster who defines his life’s purpose as taking care of his grandmother after failing to gain any recognition as a video game streamer.
If it weren’t so good to gain the overwhelming detail that every single shot contains, writer/director Pat Boonnitipat together with his mates would be somber apologists for M’s state of affairs his transparent actions would be a dull adventure into the film’s universe. Similarly, ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’ is based on characters who come across as straightforward, but their behaviors and motivations get increasingly complex with every passing episode. It’s the film that has taken the most revenue at the box office in Thailand this year and indeed a format buster across South East Asia, and almost to the level that they have been hyped.
Set predominantly in Bangkok’s Chinatown, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies centers on Menju the youngest child of the family as she attempts to wrap up her business affairs after receiving a cancer diagnosis. While Menju eventually comes to terms with the rest of the family being aware of her illness, of course, M. continues to be a nuisance in Nana’s business by saying what nobody else has said. In the same manner, while many of the people who do know about Menju’s illness are supportive, the family members do seem to be a little nebulous about her illness. She is, however, ready to take action against this rather slow pace through episodic interactions. Along the lines, Menju and M. enter into an undefined relationship through a series of interactions where M. fills the caregiver role casually but begins taking it more seriously. The same cannot be said for M.’s mother Sew, Sarinrat “Jear’ Thomas and uncle Kiang Sanya “Duu” Kunakurn who have been more darted and focused into her care. It is M. who brings that energy to the other family members and for that reason Menju quickly comes to terms with the rest of her family.
As most of you will accept, a fair part of the story of this film Is conducted in observance of the development character.
We can’t help but accompany him in his journey for he is beginning to understand what it’s like for the world to be much larger than his life and his experiences, although thankfully, the notion that the world exists beyond him is constantly present. Be it the sound of a gently falling rain or the promise of birdsong, the world that Menju so narrowly subsisted within is made for him in the most unsettling of ways. The same goes for the stairs and other places which Menju traverses and M. follows. Going into the detail of their interaction, when Menju and Sew come to the community pool for some physical activity, Boonnitipat focuses the camera on other swimmers, much like when Menju is about to commence her chemo and the hospital’s camera captures people waiting patients and their families. There is a big picture that exists outside M. giving up on Menyu and Menyu accepting their bond and that feeling is very often delicately presented alongside the work of both Boonnitipat and Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn who co-wrote the script and its dialogues that possesses noticeable realism.
Grandma’s last days are portrayed beautifully in the movie where she tries to gather her family as much as she can while accepting the fact that she is bound to die, and “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Kicks the Bucket” combines both emotions and patient ruthlessness about financials that these two feelings can coexist within the viewer in harmony.
There are also a couple of cringe worthy but priceless one-liners about the elderly and their physical conditions, for example, M. giving Menju a sponge bath or Menju’s useless grownup son Soei (Pongsatorn “Phuak” Jongwilas) trying to put a guard rail in her lavatory immediately after he’s done a huge shit and the place is more likely to be greasy now.
Boonnitipat and his friends do, however, manage to compose a superior weepie but in a rather peculiar manner in analyzing the dramatic, rather than the death of a person the sorrow that encompasses it’s care. Some time in the future, it is easy to imagine practitioners caring for some aged parental figure where just attending is the highest act of love since it entails the type of patience, orderliness, and affection which comes through an investment in another person’s wellbeing. M.’s care for his grandmother is not disinterested but he is also there for M. for she is able to consider her parents in a different context despite all their flaws, so M. still comes for M.
What ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’ does not have in terms of subtlety, it makes up for in its scope and in the unexpected feelings of reassurance, what can be considered as a happy ending. The filmmakers are aware that accepting your family with their blatant flaws is not an easy task, but for some unknown reason, the image of their beloved family members clouds all judgement.
It is not necessary to be easily reduced to tears to understand what the film is essentially about; even the most hardened skeptic will most likely find themselves reminiscing about their family even before the movie ends due to its warm and inviting portrayal of a family.
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