A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka)

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 an incredible mix of humour and inventiveness, perhaps less of a surreal deluge than expected. The adventurous first-time filmmaker develops 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.

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.

This film is eligible for the Lookout Award.

This screening is supported by the Goethe-Institut Irland.