A USEFUL GHOST

A USEFUL GHOST begins with an instantly unusual premise. After a woman dies, she returns to her husband in ghost form as a vacuum cleaner, and from there the film unfolds into something funny, melancholy, strange, and unexpectedly tender. Rather than treating the supernatural as horror, it uses it as the starting point for a deadpan comedy about love, grief, memory, and the absurd ways people try to hold on to one another and look after each other. It's really quite sweet.

Anyone who has ever been to Thailand or has Thai friends will instantly recognise the humour. Its comedy is dry, off-center, and quietly surreal, less interested in big punchlines than in awkwardness, tone, and the strange logic of the situation itself. The film keeps its emotions real even as its world grows more bizarre, which gives it a very distinctive charm.