“I want someone to share my life with, take care of each other, and grow old together…. I may never be able to fulfill this last wish.” – Quote from Marry My Dead Body

I wanted to pay homage to the archetype from which this movie is based and to show my appreciation for the original source, “Marry My Dead Body”, so I thought it would be befitting to share one of its quotes. It so encapsulates both movies!

Sometimes, remakes are disappointing or miss the point of the original, but this version is everything the original was, while adding a Thai flair to substantiate its own origination. Therefore, this stands out as truly unique.

Essentially a comedy, but do not let that define how this movie should be classified. To be sure, some parts of it are funny, even quite humorous. But it is not all that. If you are also expecting the story to be a BL, you are also going to be somewhat disappointed. It is not. Yet, it is a gay mythos that will, by the end, cause you to laugh, force you to think about death, and possibly make you cry. You might even sob as there are many astonishingly poignant moments in this movie. Parts of you could also make you angry because it shows how easy it is for an unscrupulous character to take advantage and use someone’s gullibility of decency, love, and trust for personal gain. As the saying goes, however, karma is a ….

The concept behind this movie for Westerners is exogenous to our way of thinking and is not in our wheelhouse, so to speak. A belief that a spirit will roam and not be able to move on or be reincarnated because of an unresolved issue in life that because of death remains unsettled. (However, we have our own set of ghoulish projections of ‘life after death’).

Tragically, Titi (PP Krit) is killed by a car in a ‘hit and run’. Titi was in the prime of his life and was a gay-out-and-proud young man. He had his whole life ahead of him. His biggest supporter was his grandmother. Grandma (Piyamas Monyakul) is having unsettling dreams about Titi and feels his soul is lost. She goes to a shaman and is convinced that a way for him to find peace and move onto the next world is for Titi to have the wedding that he was planning on having in real life. However, the wedding he was planning was with another man, which Titi’s father vehemently opposed.

Based, upon the instructions from the shaman, Grandma places relics from someone of Titi’s past, that if found by an individual of the same lineage, will be able to ‘marry’ Titi in abstentia. Thus, Titi can be reincarnated. While it will be a ‘ghost-wedding’, its significance is not lost. The father, however, is fervently opposed to this idea.

Cleverly, Grandma places the items in a ‘red envelope’ (which of course has its own significance) and by accident or perhaps cosmic design, who finds the envelope is Menn (Billkin Putthipong). Menn, however, is a very straight outwardly homophobic individual who initially thinks the concept of a supernatural wedding to a gay ghost is preposterous, until a series of misfortunes begin to plague him. Reluctantly, he agrees to the ceremony, thinking that will end his involvement and bad luck.

However, all that does is bring Titi to ‘life’ and now Menn is stuck with a gay ghost as his ‘husband’. To be sure, there are some very funny moments in this movie that indeed were made to be humorous and entertaining. But slowly as the precepts begin to have a solid point and the narrative evolves into seriousness, the storytelling shifts.

Menn, in reality, is a ‘loser’ and the drama reflects that. As the bond between him and Titi evolves, we get to see how Titi’s death becomes interrelated to what Menn is trying to do with his life. We begin to see that perhaps it was fate all along that brought the two together. Menn has been trying to turn his life around to become a police officer, with little success. In addition, he has fallen in love with his sponsor on the police force, Goi (Goy Arachaporn).

While not on very long and very episodically throughout, Piyamas Monyakul as Grandma is absolutely pivotal to the story. She has known about Titi’s gayness since he was young and has always accepted it and encouraged him to embrace it. Being his cornerstone for feeling safe and secure, he shared everything with her. Continuously fighting with her own son to see Titi’s difference as a strength not a weakness, she is a stalwart of support. It is the kind of role that makes you ‘feel good’ and helps us to see and certainly not judge all people, especially if they are older, as a monolith of thinking one way. Sometimes they can be your greatest and strongest ally. She exudes nurturing behavior, and we would want, if we could, for every grandmother to be as warm, supportive, and cherishing as she is. Thank you, Piyamas Monyakul, for giving a sense of comfort throughout this movie and providing a feeling of acceptance that no matter what, we will always still be ok in grandma’s eyes.

Overall, this is an exceptionally well-acted movie especially by the two main leads. The rapport between the two is palpable and it worked because of these two. I simply detest comparisons with previous productions as everything needs to stand-alone, but it sure was nice to see Billkin Putthipong and PP Krit working together again. It is obvious that they have a rapport together and their likability factor is off the charts. That also goes for the rest of the cast. While some of it got just a bit campy, it never lost its focus of telling a human drama. And the human drama was one of pain and hurt from the closest ones to us.

There is a lot of human drama in this movie – both for Menn and Titi. Each and both must face realities that perhaps neither wanted to or even was expecting to. And in that process of facing these realities, they were able to share their pain together as a couple. Intimately. Certainly not in the physical sense, but they shared it on a deeply and profoundly intrinsic level. And in a sense, both were inexorably connected – like a master and his faithful dog (you will get the reference), but now so much more complex and intricate.

There is a lot more to this story by why spoil the fun for you. Some of it is rather tongue-in-cheek yet again always leading to a conclusion that we can see coming. Perhaps not satisfyingly so but one of eternal contentment.

I cried at the end. Perhaps wept is a better term. It is such a heart-melting and uninhibited ending. Somehow you felt that Titi and Menn were, indeed, soulmates, but on a level that we need to perhaps redefine.

Finally, at the end, it was misunderstanding and ironically love that were the culprits for Titi’s inability in being able to reincarnate. Regret is an emotion we shall carry with us until the end of days. Yet, that along with repentance can break the yoke of unwanted tetherness.

Assuredly, this is going on my Apotheosis List as one of the best productions of a gay story to come out of Thailand in a very long time. Much like its counterpart, this one is exceptional as well. Do yourself a favor and seek this movie out. While not a BL, it has truer, honest love in it than most BL’s can ever really muster up.

Just a beautiful movie, sometimes told with humor, sometimes with sadness and pain, but always with heart.

Rating- 5 out of 5

Streaming on- Netflix