A Useful Ghost Review: Memory is an Act of Protest

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke blends comedy, sci-fi and horror in A Useful Ghost, a bold, genre-bending gem about memory, collective trauma, and revenge.

Dust has indeed been an issue in Thailand in the past decade, intended as the pollution caused by large factories operating in the country. But the word has also come to acquire a different meaning lately; as the director explains in the press notes for the film, it is often used to describe those citizens who “aren’t treated like humans.” That’s the kind of dust that Boonbunchachoke is interested in, and it becomes immediately obvious when we realize that our Academic Ladyboy brought home no ordinary hoover. That first night, as the young man lies asleep, the hoover coughs, spewing out all the dust it had collected hours before.

“I had to get to the bottom of this,” says the man the next day, letting us into his thoughts. And so, he picks up the phone to call the manufacturer, but the moment he hangs up, one of their employees is already at his door. “The factory is haunted,” says Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjad), the employee, who begins to tell our hero a story. Which is when we discover that the fascinating tale of the Academic Ladyboy and the Coughing Hoover is but a narrative frame to an even more enthralling, multilayered story.

Soon, we meet March (Wisarut Himmarat), son of ruthless factory owner Suman (Apasiri Nitibhon) and widower of Nat (Davika Hoorne), who was recently killed by dust pollution. Suman and the family never liked Nat, and are not pleased to discover that the woman’s spirit has returned to the land of the living and is possessing a vacuum cleaner. One hysterically funny, wonderfully absurd scene after the other, we watch as March and Nat spend every moment of their lives trying to be together, even in the literal sense of the world. One day, Nat even has a chance meeting with the Prime Minister, who praises her for being a “good ghost,” yet March’s family still wants her gone, rejecting this unusual relationship in a hilariously matter-of-fact way.

It’s only when Nat becomes useful that things suddenly change, and she’s suddenly accepted by society. But there’s a dark side to this compliance, and A Useful Ghost makes it abundantly clear with a shift of tones that conveys the film’s true message.

A Useful Ghost is a revenge film disguised as a dark comedy. With incredible control of tones, pace and characterization, writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke blends comedy, sci-fi and even horror to deliver a genre-bending gem that keeps on giving until the end, when all of a sudden, everything makes sense. One moment we are laughing when a little girl notices a hoover wandering about; the next, there’s talk of electrocution and memory erasure, and just when we think we know where the film is headed, Boonbunchachoke defies our expectations once more, be it with an awkwardly sweet sex scene or with a political twist.

Wisarut Himmarat and Davika Hoorne shine as March and Nat, and rise to the challenge of having to act both as themselves and through an object. It’s in the latter scenes that Himmarat shows impressive restraint, absolutely selling his character’s relationship not just to a woman, but also to a hoover. The cinematography (Pasit Tandaechanurat) and editing (Chonlasit Upanigkit) are a very important part of a story with irresistible visual charm, and that works so well thanks in no small part to its flawless pacing and atmosphere. The score and sound design (Wong Hui Grace, of Nosferatu) also help give the movie a very unique personality, and all of these elements come together in a masterpiece of an ending that you’ll be thinking about for a long time after the credits roll.

The narrative frame plays a big role in the film’s success too, and even if, in a way, the story isn’t entirely about his character, Wisarut Homhuan as Academic Ladybug was the standout for me. From the moment he enters the frame, Homhuan inhabits the character with such ease that it’s quite simply impossible to take our eyes off him. If we are so invested in the story, it’s also because we get to discover it with him, witness another authentic relationship blossom between Ladybug and Wanlop Rungkumjad’s Krong. Homhuan and Rungkumjad have plenty of chemistry, and I could have watched them together for much longer than what we got in the movie.

It’s best if you go into the movie without knowing too much about it, but A Useful Ghost is ultimately about memory. The film shows us a world where, in order to be accepted in society, one needs to forget the most uncomfortable parts of our collective history. The choice is between being “good” or being “erased,” and Boonbunchachoke isn’t afraid to show us exactly what that means. A Useful Ghost explores some very dark territory, and rightly so: this is a movie where characters are literally torn to pieces, but memory can become an act of protest that puts those pieces back together and heals you. It’s an angry film that delves into trauma and death, but that also leaves room for forgiveness and compassion.

“Ghosts come back for two reasons: because they remember or because they are remembered,” says a Buddhist monk when Suman contacts him about Nat’s unusual return. In A Useful Ghost, Boonbunchachoke urges us to remember those ghosts before it’s too late, and to enact our revenge, as a society, by allowing them to live within us. A Useful Ghost is the strongest debut I’ve seen in a long time, cementing Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke as a director to watch.

A Useful Ghost premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2025, as part of the Critics’ Week strand, and will be screened again at the Espace Miramar on May 18. Read our list of 20 movies to watch at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival!