How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

M, a university dropout, volunteers to look after his grandmother Mengju after her cancer diagnosis. His motive is plain: the inheritance. As the caring goes on he learns that what she wants is not money but a family gathered at her grave. It is Pat Boonnitipat's first feature, and there is a personal side to it: he started from his own grandmother's breast cancer diagnosis. He worked with the screenwriter Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn for two years, four hours a day, five days a week, and the initial slapstick idea turned into an emotional narrative along the way. Putthipong Assaratanakul, known as Billkin, takes his first leading role; he lost weight for it and changed his natural speech patterns. Usha Seamkhum, who plays the grandmother, is seventy-eight and had never acted. She was found at a seniors' dance competition. Pat gave the reason: the ideal way to be natural is to find someone who has never acted. It opened quietly and grossed around 73.8 million dollars worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Thai-language film ever. It sold 3.5 million tickets in Indonesia and took the biggest opening weekend for a Thai film in Singapore. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 100 percent and Douban at 8.9 out of 10. It won at the Asia Pacific International Film Festival and the Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards. As Thailand's Oscar submission it became the first Thai film to reach the fifteen-film shortlist; no nomination followed. It set off a social media trend, with viewers posting videos of themselves crying. It is counted among the films that brought audiences back to cinemas across the region after the pandemic. Who it is for: viewers who like family drama and quiet films about grief. Who it is not for: anyone who resents being steered. The last half hour is built directly to make you cry and does not pretend otherwise.