The hit Thai film moving TikTokers to tears

A Thai film about a young man caring for his dying grandmother as he vies for her fortune has struck a chord in South East Asia, where TikTokers’ teary responses are going viral.

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies has topped box offices across the region since it was released in April.

The film follows M, who is plotting to win an inheritance from his cancer-stricken grandmother, but begins to question his motives as he grows closer to her.

The story appears to have deeply resonated with moviegoers, who have been sharing emotional videos of themselves before and after watching the film.

“Running over to hug my grandma now! Exceptionally touching film… This movie hit even harder because it reminded me of my own relationship with my grandma,” wrote a TikTok user ianjeevan.

Young people have posted online about how they were especially moved by scenes where the grandmother was in pain and kept calling out for her late parents to “take [me] with them”.

“I cried so much that all of my make up was gone after the movie,” one TikToker said, external, referring to those scenes.

Another, diariesofswan, said, external: “After the movie, cry. Just cry, when you miss someone, whom you can’t even hug or hear their voice anymore.”

The movie was inspired by scriptwriter Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn’s relationship with his grandmother. And it is director Pat Boonnitipat’s first feature film. He told the BBC he was “really surprised” by the overwhelming response, and that the movie’s appeal lay in its ability to tap into the “conflicted” nature of family relationships.

Part-dark comedy and part-tear-jerker, the story revolves around a dysfunctional family that uses the matriarch’s diagnosis to scheme for her fortune.

M, played by 24-year-old singer-actor Putthipong Assaratanakul, is one of them. The college dropout moves in with his ailing grandmother, ostensibly to help care for her.

Well aware of her family’s intentions, the matriarch – M’s grandmother, played by Usha Seamkhum – nevertheless loves and accepts her children.

Ms Seamkhum, 78, has recieved rave reviews for her acting debut. Film critic James Marsh called her “absolutely sensational”, external as the “figurehead of this morally questionable rabble”.