drama, Duangporn Oapirat, Himawari Tajiri, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, movies, Pat Boonnitipat, Pongsatorn Jongwilas, Putthipong Assaratanakul, reviews, Sanya Kunakorn, Sarinrat Thomas, Thailand, Tontawan Tantivejakul, Usha Seamkhum
January 8, 2025
by Carla Hay
“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”
Directed by Pat Boonnitipat
Thai with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Thailand, the dramatic film “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” features an all-Asian group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A college dropout from a Chinese-heritage family becomes the caregiver for his father’s mother, after she has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and experiences family conflicts over inheritance matters.
Culture Audience: “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” will appeal primarily to people who like to watch realistic dramas about caring for aging and ailing family members.
“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” is a charming and poignant story about family loyalty and love when dealing with complicated issues of caregiving for elderly people. The movie doesn’t shy away from problems that arise from greed and betrayals. “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” shows in unflinching ways how someone’s greatest allies and worst enemies can come from within the same family.
Directed by Pat Boonnitipat, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” was co-written by Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn and Boonnitipat. The movie takes place in an unnamed city in Thailand. (“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” was actually filmed in Bangkok, primarily in the district of Talat Phlu, which has a large population of people with Chinese heritage.) “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” is Thailand’s official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2025 Academy Awards.
“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” begins by showing a family of Chinese heritage celebrating the Qingming Festival. Mengju (played by Usha “Taew” Seamkhum) is the 79-year-old widowed matriarch of the family. She has three children: Eldest child Kiang (played by Sanya “Duu” Kunakorn) is a wealthy stockbroker. Middle child Sew (played by Sarinrat “Jear” Thomas) is a homemaker. Soei (played by Pongsatorn “Phuak” Jongwilas), Mengju’s youngest child, is gambling addict who is heavily in debt.
Sew has a son named M (played by Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul), who is a colllege droput who hopes to become a professional online video gamer. M has a younger cousin named Mui (played by Tontawan “Tu” Tantivejakul), who is related to M through the relatives who are on the M’s father’s side of the family. Mui is an online sex worker who has inherited money from M’s paternal grandfather because Mui was the grandfather’s caregiver before he died. M’s other cousin seen in the movie is Rainbow (played by Himawari Tajiri), who is the daughter of Kiang and Kiang’s wife Pinn (played by Duangporn Oapirat).
At the Quingming Festival, Mengju announces that she wants to spend millions of bahts on a burial plot for herself. Mengju’s mortality will soon be very much on the family’s minds. After she accidentally falls down, Mengju is take to a hospital, where she is diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer and has been given about one year to live. Viewers will have to suspend some disbelief that the family finds out about this diagnosis at the hospital, but Mengju does not.
The family decides not to tell feisty and outspoken Mengju, in order to spare her additional stress. If this sounds like it will turn into a copycat plot of the 2019 movie “The Farewell,” think again. The rest of “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” involves some twists and turns regarding the famly members and their varying agendas to get Mengju’s inheritance. It’s enough to say that M becomes Mengju’s caretaker and starts out with one intention and ends up with another.
“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” has capable performances from all of the cast members, but the heart and soul of the movie are Mengju and M, whose relationship changes in ways that are unexpected for both of them. Seamkhum and Assaratanakul are stellar in their performances as these characters. The movie tackles issues that many families have about whether an ailing and elderly relative should get care in a family home or in an assisted living facility. “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” has tearjerking moments, as well as light touches of comedy, that don’t feel forced and are all the more meaningful because of how authentically the movie portrays family dynamics.
Well Go USA released “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” in select U.S. cinemas on September 13, 2024. The movie was released in Thailand on April 4, 2024.