THE STORY – After dying from a respiratory disease, a mother’s spirit possesses a vacuum cleaner to protect her husband when he begins showing the same symptoms
THE CAST – Davika Hoorne, Witsarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wanlop Rungkumjud & Wisarut Homhuan
THE TEAM – Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 130 Minutes
It’s not often that a film truly defies description, where a filmmaker’s tone and style are so singular in their vision and execution that even if one was able to come up with words to prepare others for what they’re about to see, you still couldn’t anticipate the experience of actually watching the thing. Such is the case with Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s debut feature, “A Useful Ghost,” a truly original, drolly, melancholic romantic fantasy-cum-ghost story in the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week sidebar that wouldn’t have been out of place in Competition. If that description sounds strange, that’s because “A Useful Ghost“ is incredibly strange, but in an invigorating way that feels completelynew, introducing a unique new voice to the cinematic landscape.
The film’s premise seems relatively straightforward: A young man (Wisarut Homhuan) experiencing strange difficulties with his new vacuum cleaner is visited by a technician who tells him the story of another man who had similar trouble, only to find that his vacuum was possessed by the soul of his wife, who had died from a respiratory illness caused by air pollution. The way that premise plays out onscreen, though, is anything but straightforward. At first, the vacuum cleaner in question – powered by the dead’s love for her partner rather than electricity – is anthropomorphized like one of the castle servants in Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast,” but at some point, gets replaced by a vision of the ghost residing inside it (Davika Hoorne). No one really questions whether a dead soul is powering the vacuum, immediately jumping into discussions of the cleanliness and morality of being married to a household appliance, littered with deadpan bon mots like, “a ghost is less hygienic than a speck of dust.”
That sense of humor carries through to the film’s visual aesthetic, as well. The vacuum cleaner’s slow movement speed offers some solid chuckles on its own, but that, plus the slightly stiff practical visual effects used to anthropomorphize it, gives the vacuum as much quirky personality as any of the performers. Boonbunchachoke uses this to superb comic effect, as in one scene where the vacuum’s arm slowly enters from the bottom of the frame to touch someone’s face. This and many of the film’s other images could be from a horror film, but Boonbunchachoke’s preternatural control over tone ensures that they’re laugh-out-loud funny through spot-on timing and a knack for comic dissonance; the magical harpstrings of the film’s musical accompaniment play against the ghostly images brilliantly. Editor Chonlasit Upanigkit’s use of slow wipe transitions gives the film a classical feel, but its story and comedic sensibilities are thoroughly modern. Boonbunchachoke smartly uses the tension inherent in these contradictions for comedic purposes, leading to some surprising, unique laughs; the image of a possessed air purifier jumping on its own like a fish out of water, coughing up dust, could inspire thoughts of terror, but the established deadpan comic tone ensures that it only inspires laughter (one of the humans watching the air purifier asking, “Can we still sell it?“ is the perfect comedic button to the bit).
The film goes in several unexpected directions as it saunters along toward its conclusion, bringing in elements of homophobia, electroshock therapy, and political rebellion. All this could become unwieldy, especially since the premise and tone are quite a lot to handle already, but Boonbunchachoke weaves them together seamlessly into an entrancing cinematic tapestry. For quite a while, the film’s framing device feels like an unnecessary way to bring in some broader humor, but everything comes together in a deeply moving way just when the film’s length begins to make itself felt. The film’s mish-mash of genres and unique comic tone make for a completely unique viewing experience, but the way it handles the deep emotions at the heart of its story makes it stick with you afterward. Like its titular entity, the film has a haunting quality that lingers for long after you’ve seen it. Rarely does a film come around that feels like it’s uniquely engaging with cinematic storytelling, let alone one that’s as emotionally effective as this. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke is undoubtedly out on a limb with this film, but “A Useful Ghost“ makes it clear that he has the vision and talent to become a singular force in world cinema.
