A Useful Ghost is a 2025 Thai tragicomedy by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke.
I went in expecting a comedy about how women are raised to please; what with the plot centering a wife’s ghost being trapped in a vacuum cleaner. I didn’t expect all that much from it.
I vastly underestimated where this film would go.
The film opens to a few laughs, but then explores themes of homophobic rejection, systems that pit people on the bottom against each other and the toll that it takes, corruption with a smile, and more yet. All the while mixing humour and heart in a way I hadn’t seen before.
The easy laughs of the beginning give way to a Greek tragedy, before closing to a few gags. So tonally it was a bit abrupt but it largely succeeded in its commentary.
I recommend this one.