How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (12A) |Close-Up Film Review  

The film has a mixture of lots of themes; we see a relationship between the younger generation and the grandmother, between siblings and each other, greed and love of money and some humour in how the characters interact. It’s a comedy and a drama. 

Set in a suburb outside Bangkok, we see M (Putthipong Assaratanakul), who is only interested in gaming, decide to go and care for his ageing grandmother, Manju (Usha Seamkhum) when he learns she has cancer. His motives are just based on greed: he just wants the multi-million dollar inheritance that he learns will become available. But he is not the only one trying to get the old woman’s money. She has three older children who gather around when they learn their mother has terminal cancer. The family decide not to tell Menju about the diagnosis. But M feels she has the right to know and tells her. 

M is suspicious of the family’s motives and there is conflict between the family members and between them and them and M. Although very difficult to deal with, M gradually comes to feel love towards his grandmother. How he deals with her demands, and his own needs becomes the story of the film. 

Making her debut in a film, 78-year old Usha Seamkhum is excellent as the grandmother in her debut feature film. She and M have great chemistry between them. All the characters seem authentic and give us a good view of intergeneration relationships and the strong draw of money. It is well-directed and the ending is just right. 

The film was a great success in East and South East Asia and deserves to do equally well in the UK. 

In cinemas now.