With a title like How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, you’d probably expect this to be a dark comedy or a drama with enough gallows humor to laugh before you lightly dab your tears by the end. However, I had heard the stories about this film going into this. Weepy out-of-theater TikToks. Ushers handing out tissues. Even the person introducing my screening warned us “If you don’t have a tissue, you’re gonna have an issue.” Sure enough, what starts out seemingly innocent becomes an emotional sledgehammer that’ll have more than a few viewers turning on the waterworks. It’s worth it though, because this is one of the best movies of the year so far. After topping the Thai box office and breaking records in Southeast Asia, I was one of the first Americans to see this film for myself, and now I want to spread the word.
M, a slacker from a dysfunctional family, believes he’s just one gaming livestream away from never having to work a day in his life (despite his viewership saying otherwise). One night, his mother drops some devastating news to him: his grandmother has Stage 4 cancer and likely only has a year left. When his grandfather dies soon after, he decides to become his grandma’s caregiver. Not because he’s suddenly realized the gravity of the situation, mind you, but because his cousin was the caregiver for his grandpa and she inherited his house. All he has to do is win his grandma’s favor over the rest of his family and he’ll be set for the foreseeable future. Of course, that ends up being far more work than he imagined…
While Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul is an established star in Thailand and does a great job as M, the real breakout star is Usha Seamkhum as the grandmother. Tough yet caring, in opposition to M’s laziness and apathy, the two play off each other extremely well. This made it especially shocking when I learned that not only was she not a professional actor, but actually pulled off the most intense moments in the film often in one take (though everything else apparently required up to 20). Even with the subject matter, this is still a very funny film, and probably the hardest I’ve laughed at a movie in a while.
However, while the laughs are plentiful, the drama is absolutely devastating. I’ve seen a lot of movies like this that tackle this subject with a light touch that’s funny and sad. This is not one of those movies. What everybody said about this film was true. As much as you’ll be laughing at it, you’ll be crying just as hard. It’s extremely impressive that this was a first-time filmmaking effort for director Pat Boonnitipat (after a career in television), because it feels so raw and real. While it certainly hits some of the standard notes for a story like this, though extremely well, what shocked me was how many parts of the story I didn’t expect. For example, a conversation between the grandmother and her brother ends up being an absolute gut-punch that made me look at her, and the story, in a whole new light.
As someone who’s had similar, if not worse experiences with their own grandparents, the theme of how we treat our elders in their final moments really resonated with me hard. I typically wait longer to say things like this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a major contender in the Oscars this year, as the film’s quality and publicity make it a likely choice for Thailand’s submission for Best International Feature Film. As of this writing, the film does not have US distribution yet, so I want to spread the word as much as possible. It also won the audience award at the festival, so that should help raise its profile here even more. With strong character development, incredible performances, laugh-out-loud dialogue and drama that’s heartwrenching but nevertheless engaging, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies deserves being named the top film of the New York Asian Film Festival 2024, and I hope you all get to see it soon.
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