It landed on Netflix last month, and now “Lahn Mah,” known in English as “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,” has been chosen by a Thai film industry panel to be Thailand’s entry to the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. 

 

The film, selected by the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand, will be the 40th entry for a Thailand film for the category—made every year since 1984—but no Thailand film has ever received a nomination.

 

Even though it might never get the love from Hollywood it deserves, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” was Thailand’s highest grossing film of 2024, released over the Sonkran season. 

 

A tale close to Asian familial dynamic, the film explores concepts such as filial piety and patriarchy through the story of Em, a university drop out who began taking care of his cancer-ridden grandmother, in hopes of gaining her inheritance. The film was directed by Pat Boonnitipat and stars Putthipong "Billkin" Assaratanakul as M and Usha "Taew" Seamkhum as Mengju, M’s 79-year-old grandmother.

 

There are tearjerkers and there are tearjerkers, and this film will go down in history as one of the biggest emotional breaks in Thailand film history; watching people break down crying while watching it even became a trend on Tiktok. 

 

“How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,” currently the 11th highest grossing domestic film in Thailand of all time, narrowly edged out by Tony Ja’s 2005 action hit “Tom-Yum-Goong.”