Buddha's Palm 

Accompanied by the light piano soundtrack, A Useful Ghost opened with a stone mural that attempted to present modern Thailand and its making process with real-life models. The Thai tableau consisted of a soldier, an athlete, a goat, a student, two workers, a monk, and a woman and a child greeting with closed palms. Time passed by, and the mural was now in the way of the construction of a new shopping mall with a slogan, “The future is now.” The mural was taken apart and dragged over the ground, which smashed the corner of stone and produced dust. The wind brought the dust into the home of a self-acclaimed “academic ladyboy,” who was researching the mural, causing them to sneeze. They went to buy a vacuum in a store (from a Black lady). However, the vacuum was haunted and malfunctioned. The main plot of the movie was in the story told by a handsome repairman, Krong, that showed up at their house to fix the vacuum. 

Before the main story began, the film already introduced various interconnected topics: the changing national identity, the development of the urban landscape, and pollution and health issues. Afterwards, Krong’s story started with two ghosts: Tok, a worker, passed away during work and haunted the electronic factory as revenge, as well as Nat, a deceased wife, who possessed a vacuum to stay with her alive husband. Later on, the story expanded into saving the memories of the Red Shirt massacre that former Thai Prime Minister ordered upon the anti-dictatorship protesters in 2010, of which Krong himself was one of the victims. With detailed backgrounds and various personal motives, the various characters linked the past, the present, and the future, driving the narrative into complexity. More themes were presented: the exploitation of workers, women in Asian families, classism, xenophobic discrimination, the marginalized groups who are comparatively vulnerable under the crisis, queer love, dreams, memories, and history. The connections between these themes are not forceful but seamless and realistic, in contrast to the supernatural theme, as the topics are factually connected in life.