A spectre watches over a girl in mourning after her family moves into the house it haunts in this Sundance hit from Steven Soderbergh.
At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, director Steven Soderbergh premiered his new film Presence to critical acclaim, and it was quickly picked up by independent film distributor NEON. Exactly one year later, the economically innovative filmmaker’s latest finally releases in theaters everywhere, and while the film’s conceit of a ghost story from the first-person perspective of the ghost doesn’t come without flaws in the storytelling, Presence is still engaging and interesting for its runtime thanks to Soderbergh’s ingenious creativity, novel effects and solid performances from its small but valiant ensemble.
With the titular presence looking on from afar, Soderbergh’s foray into the haunted house subgenre begins with a family moving into a new house in the suburbs; daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) is still reeling from the death of her best friend and choosing to isolate herself in her bedroom, while workaholic mother Rebekah (Lucy Liu) favors her jock son and Chloe’s older brother Tyler (Eddy Maday), and father Chris (Chris Sullivan) secretly isn’t happy in his marriage but is always there to lend support for Chloe during her time of grief.
Tyler, on the other hand, tries to help solely by introducing Chloe to his shady best friend Ryan (West Mulholland), while Rebekah thinks it’s on her daughter to just get over her inner sadness already and move on. But little does this family know that a ghost walks among them in their humble abode, with no idea of its purpose. Does this phantom intend to haunt its houseguests, or is it a more benevolent apparition that wants nothing more than companionship? Or is it the spirit of Chloe’s deceased friend looking to console her from beyond the grave?
Audiences will have a solid ebb and flow of how they answer those questions as Presence goes along, and even wonder for themselves how Soderbergh was able to achieve his concept’s maximum emotional impact. The ghost’s loneliness can be immediately felt even before the opening titles in a scene where it wanders from room to room through its vacant house in an unbroken take, where the moody shadows and empty mise-en-scene tell the whole story of the spectre’s inner regrets and a desire for company in its eternity.
Its longing can even be felt for the extended stretches of time the camera stands still watching Rebekah and Chris have private conversations about how to support Chloe, in addition to instances when it hovers mere inches away from the girl’s face during an intimate conversation with Ryan in her bedroom, accentuated through a slight fisheye effect as if to convey that the real world is so close for the phantasm, yet achingly far away.
The main ensemble also holds their own throughout Presence, especially relative newcomer Callina Liang, who communicates realistic melancholy on Chloe’s face with impeccable expressions on top of sheer horror upon noticing her ghostly friend has stacked her school books for her one morning, or feeling a push so sudden from the spirit, that it blows her hair behind her back. Meanwhile, Soderbergh’s ingenuity as a director is also matched by the talent of his writer David Koepp; the ghost’s involvement in the lives of this family is brilliantly juxtaposed by Rebekah and Tyler’s lack of involvement in Chloe’s life that adds a cautionary interpretation to Presence as a warning about the consequences of familial absence.
Presence is a beguiling watch, but Soderbergh’s novel execution is not without warts. The musical score has a grand sound that admittedly doesn’t mesh well with the simplicity of the storytelling, and the approach to shot composition hinders the terror that we’re supposed to feel about a particular supporting character until the script calls for it. What’s also worth noting is how the framing sometimes makes triggers for a given conflict difficult to recognize, such as a dinner scene where Chloe discovers Tyler shared a photo without her knowledge.
Seasoned horror fans may not consider Presence to be terrifying enough for their liking, but that isn’t the primary goal of Soderbergh’s newest narrative. His intent is to turn the haunted house subgenre on its head, and continue to innovate the art form of movie making with prudent practicality. Viewers will yearn to see this family form better bonds with each other, help Chloe overcome her grief, ponder how Soderbergh recorded and mixed the well-produced audio throughout the house, and want to comprehend the climactic twist the second after its over. At 85 minutes, it’s a breezy and brainy but empathetic and eerie watch that doesn’t overstay its welcome, and that’s why Presence is a solid ghost story worth seeing.