A charming, unexpectedly and perfectly Thai book unexpectedly written by a white man. Clever and clearly told by a lover of film but sometimes left a bad taste in my mouth.

In what bills itself as a crime novel without a crime, Colin Cotterill leans heavily on the concepts of predecessors like the entertainment from David Foster Wallace, the cultural mashup scenic landscapes of Tom Robbins, and the loving slacker tributes of early Richard Linkleter movies to craft the story of two main characters- Supot and Ali -who watch movies after hours at the video store Ali owns in Bangkok until they come across Bangkok 2010, a mysterious movie that enraptures both Supot and Ali in spite of having no official record of existence. I can work with thin, but affectionate setups like The Motion Picture Teller, but the rest of the narrative fizzles. The plot meanders along, padding out the page count of the book with side tasks for the main characters like tracking down illicit copies made by the few fawning fans who get access to the film. Eventually, through no investigation of their own, they are presented with the schmaltzy conclusion along the lines of it wasn’t about the journey, but the friends we made along the way. The conceit of a crime novel without a crime is an attractive one! But the actual follow through of what that looks like is considerably less so.

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!

This charming mystery from Colin Cotterill’s innovative pen is not a murder mystery, but it is a mystery. Set slightly in the past – 1996 – the action takes place mostly in a corner of Bangkok where postman Supot hangs out whenever he can at his buddy Ali’s video store. This book will bring back a wave of memories of old video rental places and the pleasures of browsing the shelves and discovering a treasure.

While neither Ali or Supot make much money, they are united in their love of cinema, and their happiest hours are spent in the back of the store watching an old film like Casablanca. At one point, Supot thinks to himself: “He wondered if anyone had ever starved to death from enthrallment, dazzled to malnutrition by cinematic magic, not realizing they hadn’t eaten for a week.” One night Ali and Supot’s viewing is interrupted by an old wino named Woot, who brings in a box of video tapes to sell. Ali gives him a little bit of money, and as he and Supot go through the tapes, they discover an unknown (to them) movie called Bangkok 2010.

The two men are completely entranced by the movie, which is set in a slightly dystopian future, and they watch it several times before attempting to discover who made it and why it hasn’t been released to the public. They feel it’s a masterpiece. The mystery is that the more the two – but especially Supot – look into it they discover more and more dead ends. The film came from no studio, and has no known actors, writers or directors. It has no footprint. Eventually, Supot decides the only thing to do is to write to the gorgeous star of the film. To his shock, she writes him back, cautioning him to make sure no one else sees or gets ahold of the movie.

This is a beautifully written story, full of unexpected vignettes, characters, and the kind of plot twists at which Colin Cotterill excels. It ultimately becomes Supot’s journey. He becomes disenchanted with his job, and not hearing from the actress for a while, he decides to go and find her. This takes him into the Thai jungle, and to reveal much more would be to give away some of the delights of this novel.

The book is salted with the movie’s narrative and dialogue, so you, as a reader, get a feel for the film and the reason Supot is so obsessed with it. Like Supot’s story, the movie draws you in. “Reading” a movie is a different experience, of course, from watching one, but as we readers know, there’s a lot of imagination involved in reading. You create a world in your head as you read, and Cotterill helps with this process, in his imaginative, witty and profound way. This is the work of a master of storytelling.

3.75 stars

Colin Cotterill is always interesting. He has two other series set in Southeast Asia and this new book is very different from the others but with some of his signature touches.

A somewhat hapless pair of friends, Ali and Supot, are film buffs. Supot is a mail carrier, and not devoted to his career. Ali actually has an MBA and could have chosen a profitable corporate job but disappointed his family by preferring to own a small and specialized video store. The setting is the mid-90s, before the advent of CDs and DVDs.

The two friends steep themselves in classic films -- everything from American 40s movies to Japanese and Scandinavian classics. In a batch of VCR tapes they discover an obscure but enlightening movie featuring a beautiful young actress who is also (in the movie) an activist. The two become almost addicted to the movie and Supot is enraptured by the actress. He obtains an address and phone number for her and starts trying to contact her.

She replies in a guarded way and is mostly concerned with how they obtained the movie and with who else has seen it. And so starts a very odd chain of events. The one copy the friends have they show to other friends, who "borrow" it and make more copies. Meanwhile the actress gets more agitated about all the versions floating around.

Supot eventually decides to try and find the actress in person and Ali embarks on a career as a kind of actor. It's impossible to explain the ensuing circumstances but they are humorous, mysterious, and sometimes poignant. Supot discovers the real story behind the movie and the loose ends get mostly braided together by the end.

Cotterill is a wry and intelligent writer and his books are a pleasure to read. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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 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.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Soho Press for an advance copy of this story by Colin Cotterill about Thailand, the magic of cinema, and the mysterys that are all around us.

Movies, unlike books are really a shared experience. Yes one can watch films in a state of the art living room with theatre sound, the highest images, but alone they don't have that same feeling. A book you can see the images as you want them to be, a movie the images are set for you and it is easier to turn to a friend, a companion, or even a stranger and go, Whoa, that was amazing. Friends can agree to disagree on film. One's greatest movie ever is another's schlock not worth a Times Square grindhouse. Sometimes though a movie comes along, a movie that defies description, that is magical, awe-inspiring and can change lives. But maybe not for the better. The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill is a story about two friends, a movie that shouldn't exist and the lengths a person will go to find out more.

Supot is a mailman for the Royal Thai Mail, a job which he hates, in a life he doesn't understand or that brings him much joy. Supot is alone in the world, with only his best friend Ali and a crush on film stars from the past to help him get through the day. Ali loves movies, not the movies of Thailand in which he lives, but the big cinema movies from the past, Westerns, art films, the more stars than a screen can hold kind of films. The time is 1996, VHS is holding on, DVD is starting to appear, and Ali who gave up a good future for his rental store has only his time watching movies with Supot to look forward to. In a batch of old tapes they find a movie, Bangkok 2010, a movie of the future but with skill, grace and a beautiful actress, but a movie that doesn't seem to exist anywhere. The director, cast and crew seem not to exist. Supot decides to find out more, and travels out of the capital to track down what he can about this movie, and the actress whose performance stole his heart .

A different story about a time and a place I didn't know much about, but enjoyed finding out more. There is a slight mystery, more the film and what the meaning is, but it is the characters that really make the story. Ali and Supot are both different, even with their love of film, and yet written with different quirks and foibles that really bring them to life. The references to classic films are good, and the story has a nice style that keeps the plot moving. Getting into the story might take a chapter or two, but the characters and writing will soon capture the interest. There are breaks with script from the movie, and other tricks which are clever and entertaining.

Recommended for people who want stories and mysteries outside of the familiar. This one is quite good and has a lot of film references that are fun to fine. I've long been a fan of Cotterill's Dr. Siri Paiboun series, about a Laotian coroner in 1970's Laos, and liked this stand alone story. A different kind of tale, but very well told.

If you are looking for a mystery (as it says in the description), this is probably not the best book for you right now. It is more slice of life as it explores two friends obsessed with movies that find a movie one day that no one else has heard of. I didn't love that the author is white and writing from the perspective of Thai characters. I understand he lives there, but he was raised in England. I think if he had written the main character even to be English but grew up in this area, it would have been better.

I never know what to expect from Colin Cotterill and The Motion Picture Teller continues that tradition. With two friends obsessed with watching old movies, to descriptions of life on the streets of Bangkok and a concurrent telling of an unreleased film the story grabbed one's attention and didn't let go till the end. Another wonderful story of strange characters and the real Bangkok.

Supot and Ali spend their days watching VHS films. They find a great film they've never heard of - that no one's heard of - and they are determined to learn why. The curse may have something to do with it... Charming, funny, and poignant, it's exactly what one would expect from Cotterill.

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.

I found this a bit confusing because parts of the film script are included, but film buffs will probably relish all the classic film references and the script itself as well as the main character's quest to find out why the film has been a secret all these years.

Not my favorite of Cotterill's books but still interesting and well-written. He has moved from Laos where his Dr. Siri Paiboun series was set to Thailand for this stand-alone title. While there is mystery, this is more a study of character and place. Cotterill's signature ribald humor is present although overall I found the book to be rather dark. Less for mystery fans and more for those who want to read a novel with a strong sense of time and place.