Steven Soderbergh has spent much of his career looking at genre from a canted angle, so it makes sense that he would bring a new perspective to the ghost story with Presence. Quite literally. Shot entirely from the point of view of the specter, the movie smoothly glides through a handsomely finished, two-story home, watching as a married couple with two teenagers goes about their days, which become increasingly fraught with all sorts of tension—spoken and otherwise. Much of the anxiety revolves around daughter Chloe (Callina Laing), who is struggling both with the loss of a friend and her strained relationship with her mother (Lucy Liu). Could there be a connection to the spirit that hovers about Chloe, in particular, and—when the unease becomes particularly heightened—retreats like a cowering dog into her closet? The screenplay, by journeyman David Koepp, is far less compelling than the camera, particularly when it comes to the film’s overcooked, climactic revelation. But Soderbergh, who serves as editor, cinematographer, and director, gets significant mileage out of the visual conceit alone. At its best, Presence has the genre invention of something like David Lowery’s A Ghost Story, along with the empathetic aesthetic of RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys. I’d be keen to watch another haunting like it.
(1/27/2025)
