When I read the very brief plot summary available for A Useful Ghost I knew that I had to make it a top priority. That summary told me that a vacuum cleaner was haunted by the spirit of a woman wanting to spend some more time with her husband. I understand that most people would probably scoff at such an idea, especially if they were more interested in standard mainstream movie options, but I was ready for whatever this film wanted to deliver.
And, oh boy, did it deliver something special.
There's a bit of a tale within a tale here, and things begin with a self-described academic ladyboy (Wisarut Homhuan) calling for someone to come and repair his vacuum cleaner. He thought he heard it coughing during the night, and then he woke up to see his floor covered in the dust that had previously been cleaned up. Krong (Wanlop Rungkumjad) soon arrives, and he has a story about a haunted factory, one that had a very special vacuum cleaner haunted by a woman (Nat, played by Davika Hoorne in non-vaccum cleaner form) aiming to reconnect with her husband (March, played by Witsarut Himmarat). March's mother, Suman (Apasiri Nitibhon), isn't pleased, of course, but soon realises that Nat could be used to help reverse the fortunes of the factory, which has been adversely affected by more than one ghost.
The debut feature from writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, this is a wildly inventive and fun work of art that uses the potential silliness of the concept to sugar-coat one hell of a bitter pill about the ways in which those in power will use any means necessary to return things to their preferred status quo, more often than not with the help of workers and/or lower-class citizens convinced to turn on their colleagues and associates in exchange for a fleeting improved lot in life.
Hoorne is excellent in her role, and manages to stay surprisingly sympathetic as she is unwittingly primed to become a major weapon against those who act like grit in the gears of the industrial machinery that ensures the ongoing success of trickle-up economics. Nitibhon is also very good, the overt villain of the piece as things are moved into place for the turbulent second half of the film. Both Homhuan and Rungkumjad are very watchable in their scenes, and it's always a treat when the film cuts back to remind viewers that Rungkumjad's character is the one telling the tale to Homhuan's character, and Himmarat works hard to be more than just a passive man bewitched by a vacuum cleaner.
Love or hate it, and I am very much in the former camp, A Useful Ghost is unlike any other film I can think of. Some come close, whether they're about sentient pieces of technology or the tactics used to ensure that members of various social classes stay firmly in the space allotted to them, but nothing else blends the two in such a perfect proportion, and manages to add the fun of some profane monks, a brawl between a vacuum cleaner and a large fridge, and a reminder of how our loved ones are kept alive by the burning flames of our memories and the sparks of powerful ideas.
9/10
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