The Motion Picture Teller

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 show more 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!

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) show less

This is quite a departure for Cotterill (though perhaps not such a departure, as it retains his distinctive originality). It concerns two friends in Bangkok who are obsessive film buffs. When a man sells them some old VHS tapes, they are astonished to find a Thai film they'd never encountered - and it's brilliant, much more sophisticated in its production than most Thai films, and daringly critical of the direction of the society, given its production date. One of the pair, a postman, determines to find the beautiful woman who stars in the film, and through dogged work he is finally able to write letters to her ... and eventually travel to the community where she lives, and where the secret of the film is protected.

Colin Cotterill is a productive writer of mystery novels with several stand-alones and two series. Of his two series my favorite by far is the one featuring Dr. Siri Paiboun, a former guerilla medic now serving as national coroner, and set in in Laos in the 1970s and 80s. Two years ago, and much to the my dismay—and the dismay of many of Dr. Siri's fans—he published The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot, which he announced would be the final volume of the series. (His Jimm Juree series is good, but just not up there with Dr. Siri in my estimation.)

Now, Dr. Siri fans—and readers who know nothing about that series—have something new to look forward to: Cotterill's The Motion Picture Teller, set in Thailand in 1996. The bad news show more is that The Motion Picture Teller is a stand-alone. The good news is that it exists, and its central character, postman and film aficionado Supot, makes for company just as good as (though quite different from) Dr. Siri. I am hoping that Cotterill will decide to use The Motion Picture Teller as the start of a new series.

The mystery begins when Supot and his best friend Ali, who owns a video rental business, discover an unknown and utterly brilliant film, Bangkok 2010. Supot finds himself falling in love with the lead actress in that film—never mind that he's never seen or heard of her anywhere else. When Supot begins an effort to contact this actress and to look for other films involving cast members of Bangkok 2010 he begins running into mysterious dead ends. And as he attempts to break past those dead ends he finds the film's origins and the actors' identities more and more mysterious.

If you enjoy mysteries, you really should give yourself the pleasure of reading The Motion Picture Teller. Then you can join me in hoping that this stand-alone begets a new series.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own. show less

This was fine. I enjoyed the first half more than the second. I liked Ali much more than Supot and the book lost its steam once Ali left.

I know the author from his Dr. Siri Paiboun series (though Siri has a whole different meaning in my life these days than it did when I first started reading Mr Cotterill's books. This one is a stand alone, about the (mis) adventures of two Hollywood movie buffs, who speak not English, and live in Thailand. I'll leave the rest up to you to read.