Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke was debuting in a directorial role for this movie and we caught up with him by the Marina to capture his excitement before the screening of this quirky dark comedy that would wound up becoming the most praised at the Semaine de la Critique.

Published 2025-05-27 07:21

"Hi friends, we're in Cannes for the 78th Movie Festival and I'm here joined by Ratchapoom, movie director.
Thank you so much for joining us."

"You are premiering, later today, A Useful Ghost.
How do you feel? How excited are you right now?
I'm so excited, nervous, anxious.
Like all the good and bad feelings all in together."

"Well, let's hope for the best.
I'm looking forward to watching the movie later today.
So what can you tell me about it?
It's a very crazy concept that I'm loving already."

"Yeah, it's about this ghost who worries that her husband might be allergic to dust.
So she's returned to possess the vacuum cleaner to clean the house.
And so she also finds out that the house is haunted by other malicious ghosts.
So she needs to get rid of them as well."

"So both the dust and the ghost, yeah.
So she becomes the useful ghost of the title.
And that has a further message, I guess.
It's not just about being fun, right?
Absolutely. There's something behind that."

"But I think the audience will see it after they watch it.
And it's been selected for the Semandala Critics.
So how do you feel about being in Cannes and this selection?
I'm so happy. I'm so delighted."

"I mean, it's beyond words. I could not describe it.
I feel honored and privileged to be here.
It's like a dream come true.
Being in Cannes, this is my first Cannes."

"So when the first time I saw the city, it's so beautiful.
What can you tell us for those that don't know you yet?
What can you tell us about your technique and the way you express visually?
I like humor. I like, I don't know, I like humor."

"I like to talk about serious issues through humor.
Because it's more interesting for me that you do serious things.
It's more straightforward and it's quite uninteresting for me.
So I think if I could mix silliness and seriousness, that's more interesting, more attractive for me."

"Maybe that's how I normally approach my film, my project.
Speaking about a wife spirit that becomes a vacuum cleaner, that's all about humor, of course.
What do you think of people who want to marry items and objects?
I don't know. Nowadays, love has no boundaries."

"So maybe you can actually marry objects, but I don't know.
In the past, you were widely known for a short film, which was about a movie convention in the Cold War.
So we are in another movie festival."

"It's different times.
So what can you tell us about that previous short movie?
The short film's English title is quite long.
It's called Red and it's the tiptoeing on the still trembling Berlin Wall."

"So it's quite a long title.
But the film is referred to the conventions of Thai cinema during the Cold War.
Because during that time, we dubbed all of our films.
We don't do live recording of film on set."

"Because after the World War, we were quite poor.
So instruments were quite expensive.
So people, producers, tried to cut budget.
So they just fixed everything in the post."

"And also, during that time, it was the golden age of Thai cinema.
So actors were very sought after.
So sometimes, the most popular ones, they would have four films to shoot a day."

"They didn't have time to memorize the lines.
So they just appeared in front of the camera.
And some assistants just said the lines.
So they repeated the words. Something like that."

"And also, there's a convention in Thailand that people expect you.
If you are a hero, you need to sound heroic.
If you are a villain, you need to sound villainous.
If you are a sexy star, you need to sound very seductive."

"And sometimes, the actor could not deliver that.
So there's another set of voice actors to do the job.
So there's a convention of that.
And I think it's interesting because it ceased to exist by the late 80s, early 90s."

"And if people still do that, it will be completely old-fashioned and obsolete.
But I like to play with that convention because it's so fun.
It's almost like cosplaying.
Actors have to cosplay their roles, right?
Okay, closing one."

"For Useful Ghost, later today, which would you say is your favorite moment or thing about the movie that we can look forward to?
I hope you will laugh at the film because it's so silly."

"I love how silly it is.
At one moment, it's silly.
At the other moment, it's so dark.
I like the audience to not know how to react throughout the whole film."

"Is it the right moment to laugh?
Or is it the right moment to think about what just happened on the screen?
Yeah, I like that.
Looking forward to that and to watching the full movie."

"Thank you so much for your time.
Enjoy the show and enjoy the premiere.
Thank you.
Thank you so much."