A USEFUL GHOST (PEE CHAI DAI KA) Discovery

Poised as a confident new entry in the cinematic canon of unlikely possessions, Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s absurdist, shapeshifting feature debut marks the era of the electrical appliance phantasmagoria. Self-proclaimed Academic Ladyboy calls for tech support after his new vacuum cleaner coughs like a human throughout the night. A mysterious, attractive repairman, Krong, soon appears, identifying the appliance as part of a faulty recurrence from one factory. To explain, he reveals two interconnected stories: the reincarnation of Nat, late wife of the factory owner’s son, in the form of a red compact vacuum cleaner, and the disgruntled possession of an industrial machine by Tok, a worker who died at the factory. This sets the stage for a twisting, labyrinthine chain of events where lost love and clandestine romance unearth a heartfelt plea for the remembrance of personal history and a biting proclamation for collective labor dissension. At once humorously deadpan in its whimsical tableaus and poignantly sincere at its emotional core, A USEFUL GHOST — the Critics’ Week Grand Prix winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — ushers the arrival of an exciting new voice in Thai cinema. –Anna Li