Callina Liang stars in Steven Soderbergh’s haunted-house thriller Presence. After a happy couple with two teenage children move into a new home, they soon realize something is deeply wrong.Peter Andrews/The Associated Press
Presence
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Written by David Koepp
Starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan and Callina Liang
Classification PG; 85 minutes
Opens in theatres Jan. 24
Critic’s Pick
Steven Soderbergh’s answer to Poltergeist, the new spry and nimble haunted-house thriller Presence is further proof that the director is, if not at least the most adventurous filmmaker working today, certainly the most restless.
After averaging one film a year since returning from his self-imposed “retirement” in 2017, Soderbergh has made films entirely shot on iPhones (High Flying Bird, Unsane), films that had to navigate the very heights of pandemic-era restrictions (Kimi, No Sudden Move), and another that balanced the logistics of shooting aboard a transatlantic cruise with the improvisatory whims of star Meryl Streep (Let Them All Talk).
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And now, Soderbergh has given himself a more awkward challenge by making a movie in which he is, essentially, the star. Filmed entirely from the point of view of an invisible ghost, Presence positions Soderbergh – acting as not only director but cinematographer and camera person – as the eyes and ears of both his audience and his cast. The result is a kind of two-way voyeuristic mirror in which Soderbergh is the spirit, or presence, caught between the on- and off-screen worlds.
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It is a nifty conceit, but stretched to feature-length form, it could have fallen apart without David Koepp’s swift script (developed from an initial 10-page outline written by Soderbergh). When Presence opens, Chris (Chris Sullivan) and Rebecca (Lucy Liu) are just another happy couple with two teenage kids who are looking to expand their horizons, and move into a better school district. But after they all move in to their new house, it’s clear that something is deeply wrong – and it’s not just the ghost/camera that traces every step of the family’s movements.
Deeply playful while never falling for the more hoary tendencies of the genre – remarkably, Soderbergh seems to have invented a new way of filming a “jump scare” here – Presence keeps its audience close and tight, building to a finale that forces you to reconsider the entire experiment. May Sodebergh keep on tinkering for decades to come.
