A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka)

March is mourning his wife Nat, who succumbed to dust pollution. But when Nat’s spirit is reincarnated in a vacuum cleaner, their relationship resumes, as passionate as ever. Disturbed by a ghost that appeared after a worker's death shut down their factory, his family reject the unconventional human-ghost relationship. In order to prove to them that she can be a useful ghost, Nat offers to rid them of uselesss ones.

Winner of the Grand Prix of Cannes Film Festival’s side section Critics’ Week, Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s ghost story resembles no other. It is a curious comedy in which mischief, sensuality, melancholy and philosophy coexist in a incongruous yet seductive mix.

In its first scene, a protagonist who describes himself as an ‘intellectual ladyboy’ receives a visit from a hyper-sexy vacuum cleaner repairman, in what looks like the beginning of a gay porn film. The repairman then tells the main story of the film: that of a widower who receives a visit from his wife, who died after breathing in too much dust and was reincarnated as a vacuum cleaner.

What follows is less of a surreal deluge than expected, with the adventurous first-time filmmaker developing instead a delicate and, in its later section, truly enthralling drama about the very human need to know that they will be remembered after they pass away.

This film is eligible for the Lookout Award.

This screening is supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland.