If you haven’t recently had the chance to cling onto a box of tissues and cry in a movie theater amongst strangers, you may soon be able to do so in the comfort of your own home. The debut feature film of Thai director Pat Boonnitipat, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, will begin streaming on Netflix in Southeast Asia starting September 12, and in other regions later this year. 

Before Netflix picked up the streaming rights, How to Make Millions was already making waves in cinemas across Southeast Asia — a tidal wave of tears, that is. In Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore, a TikTok trend has emerged where moviegoers post before and after videos documenting their reactions to the film. 

In a video that garnered over 339.8k views on Tiktok, three friends filmed themselves before entering the movie, featuring themselves with well made-up faces and showing off their tickets to the camera. “Us after” looks very different as the three friends seen are sobbing into their tissues.

“Rating: worth every tear,” the TikToker remarked.

One movie theater in Manila said they are giving out free tissues in preparation for film’s tear jerker scenes.

Filmed in Bangkok, Thailand, the movie is about a young Thai-Chinese guy, M, who is unemployed and lives at home. He decides to take care of his aging grandmother in hopes of inheriting her wealth. Tears aside, the film is full of comedic moments too, particularly ones that point to the generational gap between an older generation immersed in traditional Chinese culture and their twenty-something descendants. 

When the film screened at the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), an almost entirely Asian group of fans lined up for an entire block outside of the SVA Theatre. In the Q&A that followed, the film’s leading actor Putthipong Assaratanakul and director Boonnitipat said they’ve been overwhelmed by the fans’ enthusiasm. This is also the first leading movie role for Assaratanakul, known by the nickname Billkin, who was previously famous as a pop star and reality TV personality in Thailand. 

A huge part of the film’s appeal is its portrayal of the intergenerational Asian family dynamic, and Billkin said his acting was guided by his own Chinese-Thai upbringing. 

One Xiaohongshu user based in Singapore said the film reminded him of being raised by his own grandmother, he wrote, “I was drenched in tears not because the plot is unrealistically soul-wrenching, but precisely because it is so close to real lives, as if it’s telling the story of your own grandmother.”

Banner image via GDH 559/Variety.