Sharing the loneliness of the elderly, is 'Grandma's fortune' the Thai version of 'Flip side 7'?

Ngoai's fortune is the film that Vietnamese audiences are most interested in this weekend, reaching 17 billion VND on Sunday, June 6 - Photo: GDH

After Doraemon, another foreign film topped the Vietnamese box office after Lat mat 7. That is Gia tai cua ngoai (How to make millions before grandma dies), a Thai film with a theme similar to Lat mat 7 of Vietnam: the story of children taking care of their grandparents when they are old and weak.

It is no coincidence that two of the movies that caused a fever at the Thai and Vietnamese box offices in the first half of 2024 are both family movies and have the same theme.

This theme can be considered "national", evoking sympathy for every family.

Taking care of elderly parents, every family's business

The story of Grandma's Assets and Flip Side 7 have similar problems. The old mother has been living well alone for a long time, but one day she has an accident or is seriously ill and needs her children and grandchildren to take care of her. This opens up the whole story: who takes care of her, who shares the responsibility?

Movie Trailer: Grandma's Legacy

Both films feature scenes of children arguing over who will take care of their mother.

In Lat mat 7 , because each child lives in a different place, they discuss who should go live with their mother or take her to their home. In Gia tai cua ngoai, because they all live in the same city, they discuss who should quit their jobs to take their mother for regular chemotherapy.

Both films have scenes of the mother feeling sorry for herself when thinking about the lonely days, sitting and eating alone after the Tet holiday, when her children have left home.

Both films have a scene where the mother enters a nursing home because she doesn't want to bother her children with taking care of her when she is sick.

In both films, the children have quite similar circumstances. The eldest brother is well-off but busy and often grumpy. The second sister is a single mother, life is difficult. The youngest sister has financial difficulties...

Every movie has scenes of children arguing about who will take care of their mother, or children with similar personalities - Photo: GDH

All children are busy making a living, so for many reasons, they cannot be close to take care of their mother or spend as much time with her as the elderly would like.

These similarities are not to be called copied because such stories, such families can be found anywhere. Ngoai's fortune and Lat mat 7 are also released in April 2024.

The two films also have different approaches, different endings, leaving different messages for the same story about family.

Unique foreign inheritance in familiar theme

Although the plot is familiar, Ngoai's Legacy has a fresh approach.

The film is not told through the perspective of the old mother or her children, but through the perspective of the grandson named M (played by actor Putthipong Assaratanakul, also known as Billkin).

Initially, nephew M approached and took care of his grandmother because he wanted to inherit the house - Photo: GDH

M is a vagabond, failed as a game streamer and unemployed. For a long time, he has not cared about his grandmother and only intended to take care of her so that he can inherit the house.

The humorous yet poignant approach of Grandma's Legacy takes the film in a new direction. Not only does it address the issue of "who takes care of mom" or "who does mom divide her assets with", the film also reflects many deeper issues.

It is the loneliness of the elderly in a developed society. Mui, M's cousin and the one who inherited a house after taking care of her late grandfather, told him that what the elderly need most is what their children and grandchildren cannot give them: quality time together.

When children don't stay with their parents long enough, they will always smell the scent of old people - Photo: GDH

"It's not enough for you to smell old people. You have to be with her for so long that you can't smell anything strange anymore," Mui said.

That is, many children do not work honestly but only expect inheritances, causing their youth to pass in vain.

That is when the mother gets old, the children consider visiting or taking care of her as just a "troublesome" duty without thinking about how the mother has devoted herself to taking care of her and giving up many precious things for them.

It was pragmatism. When family members began to fight over who would take care of their mother, they also revealed their intention to inherit the house.

M's journey in the film makes many people sympathize because during the process of staying with his grandmother, confiding in her and taking care of her, he receives many values ​​that cannot be measured in money.

To answer the title question, Gia tai cua me and Lat mat 7 are not Thai or Vietnamese versions of each other.

Simply because this theme is so common in many cultures, especially Asian families, the filmmakers sought to tell the story in a way that every audience member could relate to.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chung-noi-co-don-cua-nguoi-gia-gia-tai-cua-ngoai-co-phai-lat-mat-7-phien-ban-thai-lan-20240609174219483.htm