Final Rating: 3.5/5
We all want to be remembered… From Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, comes this unique tale of love, loss, and tragedy in A Useful Ghost. It also happens to be Thailand’s submission for Best International Feature at this year’s Oscars. March (Wisarut HImmarat) is a young widower whose mother runs the family factory since his father passed.
One day they discover the ghost of his wife Nat (Davika Hoorne) who has possessed a vacuum cleaner in the factory in order to be with him again. Needless to say, being trapped in an appliance is not exactly ideal for their relationship. His family sees this as a detriment to both their image and his health and strive to do all they can to get rid of her spirit.
The film is an unsubtle social commentary, as even those of us who are not as familiar with the politics of the country can decipher. It’s rife with criticism seeming to take aim at the government and the policies and beliefs of, in particular, the older generation. Several explicit scenes of homosexuality, along with commentary on how it’s frowned upon, are utilized to depict the struggle of one of the employees who doesn’t want to admit to such a relationship for the shame it would bring upon his family.
However, this failure of disclosure inevitably causes the ghost of his lover Tok, a fellow employee who died at the factory due to a heart condition, to remain there haunting it, leading to them having to close operations. Despite their efforts to get rid of Nat, she is now a human ghost and as she is a ‘good’ ghost, not as malevolent as others, they immediately become self-serving in their use for her. They utilize Nat to try and rid the factory of this presence and thus reopen the factory, which both helps her mother in law and those who lost their jobs.
This seems like a positive development, but it’s a be careful what you wish for situation. Nat is then tasked with helping a powerful government official who she’d previously encountered as a ghost. He and others are haunted by ghosts in connection with a 2010 crackdown on protestors known as the 2010 massacre, and they want peace so she is brought in to help.
They round up people who remember these individuals and electro shock them so that they’re forgotten and thus their presence is no more. The issue then becomes what right do they have to abuse this power, and how far should they go to rid the past of such voices?
We are told about this story as it’s narrated to us and by Academic Boy (Wisarut Homhuan) who begins a relationship with a man who was originally a ghost in his vacuum and was part of the group that opposed the government actions. The former ghost’s hope is that somebody will remember him, and so enlists the Academic Boy to help.
March likewise is unhappy with the work his wife is undertaking and tries to read about these people and their fight, in order to keep their memory from fading. This is certainly a very relevant social commentary given the types of government action to rewrite or wash over history we are seeing.
The film’s final act brings about a violent turn and the nature of answering for your actions at some point or another. Nat is forced to confront the work she has done, as are the government officials. While at times it may feel slow, ultimately it does a good job of using its premise to weave the story. It’s a bit exposition heavy, but the messaging and nature of the story come across effectively and it leaves you asking questions of morality and love, which is ultimately the biggest take away.
A Useful Ghost was seen during the 2025 Genre Gems Film Festival.
