An adulterous couple creates a fake film production project to catfish a naive actress to take the rap for the murder of the woman's abusive husband, but instead, one of the con artists gets stung.
Frog in a Coconut Shell is the perfect low-budget thriller that uses only four actors and two simple locations: an apartment and a table at a coffee house. It's a unique thriller con artist story where things are never as they seem. The characters perpetrate a con on each other; simultaneously, the con is on the audience. This thriller has dark comedy, intimate scenes, and twists that engross the audience throughout.
"Frog in a coconut shell," is something you don't want to be used to describe you. It is said that this idiom is of Malay origin and talks about a frog who spends its entire life under a coconut shell. The frog refuses to leave the shell thinking that the shell is all there is to see and know. The frog is happy with its ignorance, though, even though in reality, there is so much more to explore outside its tiny world.
Our "frog" is Siriporn a young Thai woman who is trapped in a coconut shell of luxury but with an abusive husband. She needs to go to extraordinary measures to free herself from her tormenting husband and leave the coconut shell.
Synopsis When the story starts, we first believe that Siriporn Wheeler, a Thai female in her late 20s, is a screenwriter. She is with Benz, a Thai male in his mid-30s, as her producer. Benz is a do whatever it takes to get to the top kind of guy. They're struggling with the critical murder scene in their script and finding the lead actor for their film.
Then it's revealed that Siriporn is in a sexually and psychologically abusive 10-year marriage with a much older Caucasian American male, Noah Wheeler, in his mid-50s, who is also Benz's brutish boss. Siriporn was a 17-year-old sex worker when Noah took her in when the police were after her after the murder in a Thai brothel. Noah owns an importer-exporter corporation and has a luxury apartment in the Thong Lo section of Bangkok. Siriporn jumps at the opportunity to marry him. Noah played Henry Higgins, and his goal was to transform Siriporn into the perfect trophy wife. He gave her an education and etiquette lessons. Noah feared her education might cause a problem in his control, and he then turned to physical and emotional abuse. Noah went as far as to use a GPS on her; the only place she could go was the nearby Tom N Toms Coffee Cafe. The only hobby he allowed her was screenwriting, which he saw as trivial.
Benz and Siriporn commiserate with each other about their abuse from Noah. This turns into an adulterous affair and leads to them creating a plan to rid themselves of Noah. For both of them, their clandestine relationship is an opportunity to achieve a goal instead of love. Siriporn had signed a prenup with Noah, a powerful man who would not allow her to leave, but there was no death clause. Noah is in the way of Benz's plans to take over the company.
The story then reveals that the script is not for a movie but a plan to murder Noah, which explains why they struggle with the murder scene. The lead actress is the person they will frame for the homicide. Siriporn then works to find the easy mark for the murder of her husband. She goes to great lengths to catfish naive actors desperate for a movie they will never make. She narrows the list to three, and Benz chooses Malai, a Blasian female in her late 20s.
The script then focuses on the audition and rehearsals with Malai as they collect DNA, rehearsal videos, and fingerprints on the murder weapon to frame her. Siriporn gets desperate as the increased abuse from Noah has her on edge, and she shares this with Malai as they become intimate. Malai thought the film production was sketchy but stayed because she wanted to be with Siriporn. Meanwhile, Benz's relationship with Noah improves, and Noah asks Benz to keep an eye on Siriporn while he is away on business.
Since Benz no longer needs to get rid of Noah, he tells the girls to postpone the movie. Siriporn and Malai agree with Noah, but Siriporn tells Benz she doesn't care about the money and plans to run away with Malai. Then, Malai reveals that she played along with their ruse because she fell for Siriporn. Instead, Malai has persuaded Siriporn not to do it and run away with her. Benz becomes the outsider of the girls' devious scheme.