Genre: dark comedy, horror, drama | Country: Thailand | Year: 2025 | Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke | Language: Thai | Subtitles: English, Polish | Duration: 2 h 10 min | Age restriction: 16+ | World premiere: Cannes Critics’ Week
A USEFUL GHOST
Thailand’s Oscar candidate
Nat, the wife of March and daughter-in-law of a powerful Thai businesswoman, dies suddenly of respiratory failure caused by air pollution. Yet her love for March is so strong that she returns from the afterlife as a haunted vacuum cleaner – determined to protect her beloved from the same fate. She gently brushes him with her hose and clears away the dust beneath his nose.
This story of love transcending the gates of death is narrated by a vacuum cleaner repairman who visits a client complaining about a machine that coughs at night. Behind this bizarre romance lies a portrait of class struggle in a deeply unequal Thailand, with family drama and sharp criticism of capitalism.
Too far-fetched to work?
It works – and brilliantly at that! “A Useful Ghost” is a film unlike anything you’ve seen before: eccentric, surreal, and profoundly moving, crafted with confidence and vision. If you ever thought a vacuum cleaner couldn’t have a broken heart, you were wrong. And if you believed it was impossible to film an erotic scene between a man and an Electrolux – think again.
This striking directorial debut by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke is based on his own screenplay. The director weaves biting satire on classism into a surreal narrative, delivering a clever pastiche of Thai soap operas, known as lakorns. A mother who opposes her son’s relationship with an unworthy vacuum cleaner, fabulous wealth built on the suffering of the underprivileged, and a final, harsh punishment for sins – watching “A Useful Ghost” offers pure cinematic satisfaction.
And though it’s hard to imagine after a story about a lovesick vacuum cleaner, the film ultimately gives us hope that true love really does exist. This original visual gem wowed audiences at Cannes, where it won the prestigious Critics’ Grand Prix. Thailand has selected it as its official submission for the 2026 Academy Awards.
reżyseria: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
scenariusz: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
obsada: Davika Hoorne, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wisarut Homhuan, Wanlop Rungkumjad, Wisarut Himmarat, Thityanan Phoungbut
zdjęcia: Pasit Tandaechanurat
montaż: Chonlasit Upanigkit
muzyka: Chaibovon Seelukwa
reżyseria: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke is a filmmaker of Teochew-Hainanese descent. Born, raised, and based in Bangkok, he graduated from the film department of Chulalongkorn University. Currently, he works full-time as a scriptwriter for a studio, writing commercial features and television series. Apart from writing, he also teaches film theory and scriptwriting at universities and works as a film critic.
In 2020, Ratchapoom was selected to participate in the Berlinale Talents program. His short film “Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall” was selected for Locarno in 2020 and won the Junior Jury Award – Leopards of Tomorrow (International Competition).
Most recently, he has been developing his own project, a film series of varying lengths investigating the colonial history and postcolonial situation of Thailand, “A Useful Ghost” being the first one.
