A Useful Ghost: Review by Esra Kars

What Men Live by: With The Memory of A Useful Ghost

Nat, whose ghost is haunted by a vacuum cleaner, decides to clear the dust from her family’s factory.

by Esra Kars

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke delivers a notable debut feature with A Useful Ghost, which contains elements of absurd and dark comedy, as well as romance and fantasy, and also includes a political background. Thanks to its multilayered storytelling and aesthetic approach, it offers a memorable experience.

The ghost of Nat (Davika Hoorne), who died because of dust, comes to life inside a vacuum cleaner. Although she tries to make contact with her husband, March (Wisarut Himmarat), their boundless relationship is not well-received by more traditionalist family members.

Since a worker has died in her family’s factory for the same reason, Nat’s ghost finds a way to make herself accepted: she will use the vacuum cleaner she inhabits to clean the factory. Despite beginning with the idea that anything can be done for love, it soon leads to a major class conflict.

Revolving around opposites – life and death, modernism and conservatism, old and young, rich and poor – the script follows a continuous and non-repetitive narrative structure, although towards the end the storytelling constantly rises and falls, which negatively affects the rhythm.

Despite the growing homophobia, it is significant that the love of homosexuals is portrayed as much as the romantic relationships of the main characters. Similarly, groups excluded from society for various reasons (e.g., disabled people) appear in the film without any concern for delivering a message. All of this is quite valuable in terms of an egalitarian cinematic language.

Throughout the film, the atmosphere of emptiness and coldness inherent to the universe of ghosts and the chaos and suffocating feelings of the human world are conveyed without any filter. In particular, thanks to the selected songs and the classical-style music composed by Chaibovon Seelukwa, reminiscent of old horror genres, the audience is immersed in a supernatural story.

In addition, the production has achieved notable quality, especially in terms of location selection and art direction. For example, through the contrast between “Academic Ladyboy” (Wisarut Homhuan)’s messy, small yet charming house and the futuristic, spacious but unsettling room where the electroshock treatment takes place, it directly reflects the stories’ worlds.

Within a dystopia in which people’s emotions, memories, and even dreams are questioned, controlled, and shaped, the director makes references to Thailand’s political history and to the mass killings that have occurred since the 2000s. Because even though dystopias represent the future, they feed on the past.

A Useful Ghost engages viewers from beginning to end, prompting them to ask numerous questions and placing them in an active role, allowing them to participate in a dynamic process. On the journey with its audiences, the future highlights how essential remembering is to escape the bleak world it presents – no matter how painful it may be.

Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Writer: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Cast: Davika Hoorne, Witsarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wanlop Rungkumjud, Wisarut Homhuan
Running Time: 130’
Country: Thailand, France, Singapore, Germany
Year: 2025

©FIPRESCI 2025