The Motion Picture Teller is an odd book, enjoyable but meandering and soft around the edges. Does that make sense? It’s being marketed as a mystery, but I think that’s a little misleading. Yeah, there’s kind of a mystery, but it’s more about the people and the places.

The book is set in Bangkok in 1996, when you could still go to video rental stores and browse the aisles. Supot, our main character, works for the Thai Royal Mail but isn’t really dedicated to his job. His friend, Ali, owns a video store and the two of them spend hours in the back of the store watching classic Western movies. In a batch of old tapes they find a movie, Bangkok 2010. The two men love 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. The mystery is that the more Supot looks into it, the more dead ends he finds. The film came from no studio, and the actors, writer, and director are all unknowns. Supot ends up writing to the lead actress and the rest of the story is about his journey to meet her and find out more about Bangkok 2010.

This is a beautifully written book full of unexpected characters and twists on the familiar “guy in search of the perfect woman” theme. It was touching and funny and just a good book.

I listened to the audio. Crossley did a fine job narrating the story. Scenes and dialogue from the movie are sprinkled throughout the book and those portions are read by a different narrator, Amy Scanlon, which helped keep the main story and the story of the movie separate. I do think I missed what made Bangkok 2010 so earthshattering for Ali and Supot though.

This novel is set in 1996 in Thailand and follows Ali, who owns at a video rental store and Supot, who is a postman for the royal mail service. The two men are best friends and cinephiles who enjoy watching films together.

One day they come across a film titled: Bangkok 2010. The two men are immediately enamored with the film and Supot is infatuated with the lead actress. Though no one else they’ve talked to has ever heard of the firm. Supot one day decides to reach out via letter to the lead actress and she expresses a desire to want the film to not be seen by anyone else.

This leads into an adventure to the Thai countryside and a mysterious group of people dating back to the sixties.

The adventure is both surprising and creative and overall this was a good, surprising and quick read. Though I did believe further detail and perspectives could have done the narrative well and added to it.

This novel uses the word “transvestite” in the first paragraph/sentence & several times throughout as well. While I believe this would be accurate for the time period, it was still a bit jarring to read (as this is now outdated language) and those considering reading who may be triggered by such (outdated) language should be aware that this is included.

I thought the audio narrator was a good choice for this sort of mystery novel and did the story justice.

3 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Soho Crime for the Audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was okay. I was surely expecting more from it - it has such an interesting premise behind it. However the execution didn’t hit the mark for me.

So we find a movie, right? And apparently it’s dang good - but it’s never been released to the public - drama ensues.

This could have been great. I’m unsure if my dislike for it had more to do with the story itself, or that I listened to the audio. It’s possible that this book is just one that is better in a format other than audio. It happens. Thanks to NetGalley I was able to listen to this one - I might find an ebook and try it again in the future.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I wasn't in love with this BUT it was fascinating in a way. I enjoyed the author's writing style, and the narrator was good.

The Motion Picture Teller is a standalone semi-mystery and retro slice of life adventure by Colin Cotterill. Released 17th Jan 2022 by Soho Press on their Soho Crime imprint, it's 241 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a whimsical, distinctly odd book featuring a pair of well meaning but generally hapless idiots who are a slice of ham short of a sandwich. Supot is a postman who gets mauled by local canines on a regular basis on his daily rounds. Ali is a video store owner in "Little Bangkok" across the river from the city proper, who tries very hard to be left alone by customers so he and Sunpot can watch the movies from the golden age of Hollywood in peace without any interruptions.

Colin Cotterill is a wonderful author, and fans of his Siri Paiboun books (HIGHLY recommended) will see glimmers of the same whimsy and warm regard for SE Asia, its culture, and its inhabitants in this book. There's a lot of clever-ish repartee, and subtle nods and in-jokes which fans of classic film will recognise. After that, though, this is quite an odd ride. The writing is way more than competent. The characterisations are well rendered and appealing (if not particularly believable), and the plot is slowly meandering and seemingly equipped with its own agenda.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 6 hours, 40 minutes and is chiefly narrated by Steven Crossley, with scene/background interludes narrated by Amy Scanlon. There is some noticeably odd/uncomfortable phrasing and dramatic timing in the recording which is clearly intentional on the part of the author but which added an extra frisson of tension to an overall strange read. Sound and production quality were high throughout the recording.

Definitely an odd but worthwhile read; hopefully the start of another series. Current fans of the author will enjoy this offering. Readers who are not yet fans of the author's style will be bewildered, but hopefully entranced enough to give it a fair go.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Interesting characters and storyline. Not really my cup of tea, didn't thrill me and not really memorable. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Having read a blurb that the book has something to do with a movie in Bangkok. N that being my current City, I had to pick this book up.

I did enjoy the lookup the book introduced us to which is quite novel, as I had never heard or even thought of the profession mentioned in this book. The story involves a lot of landscape details of multiple cities in Thailand. What the reader, however, has to keep in mind is that the book is set up in 1996 so the details go accordingly and don't have a lot to match up with the current state. I mean it's gorgeously developed and clean now!

The obsession of the main protagonist over the Western star cast and the movie Bangkok 2010 has left him derailed from his current life and he is keen to solve the mystery of this unheard movie.
The plot is intriguing but the narration style was not to my liking as I felt it was not effectively communicating the story. But I did manage to get to the end and felt a little better with the way things closed.

Genre: #mystery #fiction
Rating: 3/5 ⭐

Thanks, @netgalley @colin.cotterill for the digital ARC.
#MotionPictureTeller #NetGalley #arcreview #bookreview

Supot, a cinephile who uses movies as an escape from his life as a Royal Thai postman, and his friend Ali, a movie store owner, come into the possession of a movie called Bangkok 2010. After watching the movie, they become obsessed. Supot goes on a mission to find those who made the movie and solve the mystery of why no one knows about such an influential, captivating movie.

Going back and forth between Supot's story and descriptions of the movie, the unraveling of the mystery gets more incredible with each layer. Strangely addictive read.

#arc
#netgalley
#moviepictureteller

This book was fascinating. A mystery without a crime to find the truth behind a mysterious movie. I really enjoyed all the elements that were incorporated into this tale. I really enjoyed the commentary on film and how it was educational about Thailand in the 90s. I have no complaints so I will give this a 5/5

DNF at 13%. The narrators voice was not to my liking. What bugged me the most is the drop or elongating of their voice at the end of sentences. The accent didn’t bother me but the way they spoke. I normally listen to the first chapter in normal speed but I couldn’t handle the long pauses and I wasn’t paying attention to the story. I tried 1.75, 2.0 and even 3.0 but I still couldn’t get into the book.

I liked the Thai references. It said it was a mystery/thriller. Seemed more like a comedy. I didn’t like the characters. I think they led the most boring lives ever.

I'm not entirely sure if it was the audiobook narrator or the writing style, or both, but this was just not engaging -- it didn't work for me, and I didn't finish it.

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