A Useful Ghost (18)

When an ‘academic ladyboy’ is disturbed by a malfunctioning household appliance, a mysterious repairman arrives and relates a strange tale.

He explains that March, the son of a prominent manufacturing family, was recently widowed and his deceased wife, Nat, has returned in the form of a vacuum cleaner. Soon it emerges that she is one of many ghosts who have possessed appliances and machinery as they seek revenge, meaning, and love.

This extraordinary feature debut by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke commences as a satire about industrial pollution, but broadens into a wildly camp attack on the Thai establishment, cultural hypocrisy, and political violence.

In a film plentiful with queer pleasures, Apasiri Nitibhon steals the show with her wonderfully deadpan performance as March’s beleaguered mother.