Directed by Chayanop Boonprakob, The Red Envelope is a sweet and entertaining story about a boy named Titi, whose spirit wandered the mortal world because he had unfinished business to resolve. His grandmother took it upon herself to find a way to help his soul pass on to the afterlife. Let's find out what happened in the film and if Titi was able to be reincarnated.
After Titi's untimely death, his grandmother often had nightmares in which she saw her grandson dying a painful death. She wanted to be free of these nightmares, so she went to a shaman to ask what she could do. The shaman explained that because her grandson had been hit by a car and died in the most tragic way, his spirit continued to wander the mortal world and could not be reincarnated in human form. He told her that he needed to hold a ghost wedding for Titi, but that he couldn't choose just anyone.
Director: Chayanop Boonprakob
Writers: Chayanop Boonprakob, Thamsatid Charoenrittichai, Chantavit Dhanasevi
Stars: Putthipong Assaratanakul, Krit Amnuaydechkorn, Arachaporn Pokinpakorn
He told her to take the hair and nails of a dead person, put them in a red envelope, and throw it wherever he wanted. He told her that whoever found the envelope would be the ideal boyfriend for Titi, who would help him be reincarnated. Meanwhile, a small-time criminal named Menn, who was serving a prison sentence, was appointed as a police informant. He was told that if he found incriminating evidence against a drug lord known as Big Joe, he would be cleared of all charges and avoid jail time. After many failed missions, the officers realized that Menn had no potential and would never be a good officer.
Menn, besides wanting to be cleared of all charges, had another reason for working for the police: he had grown fond of an officer named Goi, which prompted him to make his mark and work hard. No one knew it, but Menn wanted to impress Goi and one day serve on the force alongside her. But Menn was a clumsy guy and ended up ruining everything he was working for. To top it all off, he picked up the red envelope that Titi's grandmother had left in a public space. Menn made it very clear to everyone that, first, he wasn't gay, and second, he would never marry a ghost. But Titi's grandmother warned him that luck would not favor him if he didn't marry her.
Menn realized there was some truth to what she said and that if he didn't marry Titi's ghost, his already miserable existence would get even worse. Menn resigned himself to his circumstances and eventually married Titi's spirit. He was petrified when he began seeing Titi's ghost, who had apparently moved into his apartment. Menn tried to get rid of the ghost, but couldn't, as something was preventing Titi from reincarnating. Titi realized that if Menn could help him find what he needed to reincarnate, he could probably leave the mortal realm and stop bothering him. Titi and Menn went to her ex's boyfriend's house, believing that talking to him would probably bring closure.
Titi sensed that her boyfriend, Din, would be grieving, and she was surprised to discover that he had already started seeing other people. Menn suggested to Titi that if they found the man who had hit him, it could give them closure. But it wasn't easy to find him. Titi remembered that he had been recording something when the car hit him, so there was a chance the video was still on his phone. So Titi and Menn went to the ex's house, and there Menn learned that Titi's father had never approved of him being gay. Titi was most hurt by the discovery that his father couldn't accept him as he was. Anyway, Titi and Menn found the video, and although the driver's face wasn't visible, Titi saw that he was wearing limited-edition shoes that only a few in the country owned.
Titi and Menn went to the exact spot where the first man died and saw several trucks parked right in front. Everyone had a camera, and they thought they could probably figure out who the driver was from the footage. One of the trucks parked there belonged to the same man they had seen at Din's house. They followed him to break into his truck, but the whole operation led them down a completely different path. That man, Rambo, worked at a local boxing club, and Titi and Menn soon discovered that the club's real owner was none other than Big Joe, the drug lord Menn had been searching for for a long time. Furthermore, Titi and Menn discovered that the boxing club was just a front for drug trafficking. Titi saw that Big Joe was wearing the same limited-edition shoes as the driver in the video.
Menn was immensely happy and realized he could finally prove himself by telling the police he had found Big Joe. He gathered circumstantial evidence and went to the police station to tell Goi and the others. But he was so unlucky that the video he had recorded had no sound, as his phone was broken. Menn didn't give up and discovered that Big Joe and his entire team were hiding drugs inside the boxing equipment. So all the gloves and punching bags used in the gym contained drugs. Menn and Titi also discovered that Din was working for Joe and later realized he had hidden from Titi the fact that he was straight and not gay. Menn felt sorry for Titi, as he had been treated in the cruelest way by the one person he was willing to give up everything for.
Din just wanted Titi to pay for his apartment, which was why he pretended to be gay. The good thing about all the chaos was that, for the first time, the police were happy with what Menn had achieved. They decided to raid Big Joe's compound and confiscate all the drugs. But, to Menn's horror, they found nothing on the boxing equipment, and besides, Big Joe asked the police to compensate him for all his losses. Menn couldn't understand how that had happened. He decided to break into the boxing club on his own and find out where they had hidden the drugs. It was then that he learned that they had somehow been tipped off about the raid and that they had hidden all their belongings under the ring, in an underground room. Menn called Goi from there and told her that he had found the illegal stash. Goi arrived at the scene, and that was the moment in The Red Envelope when it was revealed that she was the insider leaking all the information to Big Joe.
Goi said she wanted to make money, and that was the only way to get it. She said that even if she caught Big Joe, she wouldn't get anything in return. But when Big Joe asked Goi to kill Menn and end the matter, she changed her mind. She didn't want to kill him, as she probably also liked him. Big Joe didn't like it when his orders weren't followed, so he shot Goi and decided to kill her and Menn. But before that could happen, the police arrived on the scene and took charge. Although Goi was injured, she managed to survive and even killed Big Joe and saved Menn's life. While I don't think Goi and Menn ended up together, I do believe Goi proved to be a true friend to him.
Even after Big Joe met his fateful end, Titi's spirit couldn't escape the mortal realm. In fact, Titi nearly lost her powers and became so weak that not even Menn could hear her voice, as she had entered the bodies of many people during all the chaos to help him, which sapped a lot of her energy. In fact, as Menn was being taken to the hospital, the ambulance got stuck in a traffic jam, and she sensed that Menn was going to succumb to his injuries. At that moment, Titi put herself in the body of each driver in front of her and made sure they moved out of the way. But as a result, Titi's spirits weakened, and Menn had no idea what else he could do to help her cause.
Titi's father blamed himself for his son's death, something Titi was unaware of. Titi had assumed he couldn't accept Din's homosexuality, which is why he asked her not to marry Din. But his father discovered the kind of man Din was, so he dissuaded Titi from marrying him. Before he could tell Titi the truth, he met his fateful end, and the guilt-ridden father could never forgive himself. In the ending of The Red Envelope, Menn asked Titi's father to tell his son whatever he wanted, and that was when the man broke down.
He told Menn that he loved his son and would want to be his father in the afterlife as well. That was probably what kept Titi from leaving the mortal realm. He felt deprived of love, felt like his father never understood him, and also believed that his father hated what he had become. Once all those misunderstandings were cleared up, Titi's spirit departed for his heavenly abode and was likely reincarnated as someone else. Menn was never able to become a police officer, but he learned a lot in the process. Now he had a family who loved him unconditionally. Titi's father even told Menn that he would have wanted a husband like him for his son, which was a huge compliment to him. Menn kept Titi's dog, Tormor, because he knew how much he loved him and knew that Titi was somewhere judging his fashion sense and getting upset about how filthy he kept his place.
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