Monday, January 16, 2023

The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill

 
First Lines: There were two worlds. There was the real world, where Supot delivered letters for the Royal Thai Mail service, where everyone he met was an unlikely character even for fantasy.
 
It's 1996. Supot, a mail carrier for the Royal Thai Mail service, hates his job. The only bright spot in his life is the time he spends in his friend Ali's video store watching movies. These movie buffs love the old Western movies, especially the actresses, and bemoan the sorry state of the Thai film industry... until they find a mysterious cassette labeled Bangkok 2010

After watching it, Supot and Ali are immediately obsessed and declare it to be the best Thai movie ever made. There's just one slight problem. No one else has ever heard of the movie, its director, its actors, or any of its crew members. Who would make a movie like this and then never release it-- and why? Determined to find the answers, Supot's journey takes him deep into the Thai countryside where he learns that some powerful people are just as determined to keep the film buried.

~

I am a long-time fan of Colin Cotterill. I love his series of historical mysteries featuring the septuagenarian coroner of Laos, Dr. Siri Paiboun. Cotterill has a double-edged sense of humor that can be gentle with humans yet skewer political ideology. I don't know how he does it, but over the years, he's made me laugh while simultaneously seeing the truth of things. I jumped for joy when I came across The Motion Picture Teller because it has been a long three years since his last book.

Supot and Ali are the lovable yet hapless characters that Cotterill creates so well. While readers can be amused at their feckless ways, they're also learning about life in Thailand, both the average Thai's daily life as well as how the country's politics affects everyone. In The Motion Picture Teller, Thai life under military regimes is touched upon subtly yet powerfully. So much so that readers may wonder how the people of Thailand can be so well known for their smiling faces.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. Being with Supot and Ali in the video store was like a trip down Memory Lane for this movie buff, and Cotterill's descriptions of Western movie posters being "translated" for the Thai audience certainly had me cringing and laughing. But once Supot decided to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding Bangkok 2010, the story unraveled a bit, leaving me vaguely dissatisfied. Even though I didn't find The Motion Picture Teller to be a complete success, it was still wonderful to spend time in Colin Cotterill's world again. Please don't make me wait another three years for a new book!

The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill
eISBN: 9781641294362
Soho Press © 2023
eBook, 241 pages

Amateur Sleuth, Standalone
Rating: B-
Source: Net Galley

8 comments:

  1. You're reminded me, Cathy, that it's been too long since I read anything by Cotterill. He is gifted, and like you, I enjoy the way he weaves wit into a story, while at the same time, as you say, going right up against ideology. And what a sense of time and place! I can see how this one appeals, even if it's not perfect.

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    1. I'm such a fan that, if I found out he was responsible for writing some of the pages of a phone book (if there were still such things), I'd buy a copy to read them.

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  2. This sounds delightful. I actually got to go to Thailand once and I loved it.

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    1. There are some marvelous mysteries set in Thailand.

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  3. I have so loved the Dr. Siri series and upon reading your post I checked to make sure that I had read them all and found one that I hadn't! Oh, joy! And now there is this series to look forward to. My cup runneth over!

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    1. How wonderful that you learned you have a new Siri to read! And it's such a pleasure to know what you're a fellow fan.

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  4. I'm listening to this on audio right now. So far I'm enjoying it.

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