“Presence” Review
Callina Liang senses that she’s not alone in her family’s new house in “Presence”, the latest film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh.
Out of all of Hollywood’s biggest filmmakers, Steven Soderbergh is one of the most challenging to categorize and that’s most definitely a good thing. No one can box him in because it’s not even clear what dimensions he inhabits. Ever since he became the youngest director to win the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or award for his breathtaking debut “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”, Soderbergh has walked the tightrope between indie breakthroughs and mainstream smashes his entire career, often excelling in both. He attained the Oscar for Best director for “Traffic” while also being nominated for the same award the same year for “Erin Brockovich”, created two massively popular trilogies with the “Ocean’s” series and “Magic Mike”, made a sweeping and controversial two-part biopic about Che Guevera and still found time to give us a plethora of underrated darlings like “Contagion”, “Behind the Candelabra” and “Logan Lucky”.
Now, Steven Soderbergh continues to astound audiences with his latest release: “Presence”. Aside from continuing Soderbergh’s trend of pushing boundaries in mainstream cinema (as well as releasing multiple movies in the same year with “Black Bag” being slated for distribution in March), “Presence” takes the haunted house subgenre of horror and takes a very different approach, resulting in a compelling experience.
After moving into a new house, the Payne family– composed of father Chris (Chris Sullivan), mother Rebecca (Lucy Liu), brother Tyler (Eddy Maday) and sister Chloe (Callina Liang)– begin to slowly suspect that there is something else living in their house. Something that cannot be seen but can definitely be felt. Whatever this presence is, it seems to be gravitating towards Chloe who is struggling with grief after the death of her best friend.
While there have been plenty of haunted house films over the years, “Presence” quickly distinguishes itself in the way that it’s filmed. The entire film is a series of long takes specifically from the point-of-view of the ghost, which cannot leave the house and can’t even speak, meaning that the audience has no idea what it wants and has to slowly piece it together over the course of the film. But this goes beyond being a gimmick from Soderbergh, who also serves as the film's cinematographer and editor, because the fact that every shot is a long take with a wide angle lens gives the whole film an unsettling feeling, especially if you’re uncomfortable in situations where you think someone is watching you but you can’t prove it.
Along with Soderbergh’s talent for visuals, writer David Koepp and the film’s actors add the necessary depth to this film with a family that feels grounded. Koepp has always given his characters this feeling of relatability even in the most harrowing circumstances. When you examine his filmography, it’s astounding at how so much of his work contains larger-than-life effects but with people you still can relate to. Among Koepp’s previous writing credits include “Jurassic Park”, “Spider-Man” and “War of the Worlds” and, with the drama of the Payne family, you get the feeling that his primary concern wasn’t the ghost but the people it’s haunting.
The entire ensemble is wonderful and, despite the audience constantly being aware that the family is being watched, there’s a part of your brain that is able to just focus on the family and get invested in their struggles. In particular, Callina Liang is astounding after only recently making the leap into acting. Her grief and ability to sense this presence better than the rest of her family automatically builds interest in her and she seems really intent on figuring out what this ghost is and what it wants, especially since it appears focused on her.
For most of its running time, “Presence” is more intriguing than it is scary unless, of course, the idea of voyeurism from beyond is terrifying to you. However, the last third of this film is where everything changes and, without giving anything away, results in a climax that is incredibly white-kniuckled and suspenseful. You come to realize that all of the slow-burning buildup of the first two acts has come to this and your mind is wrought with fear and dread. “Presence” doesn’t have to rely on a million jump-scares to get its frights across. Instead, it saves them for later and results in a viewing experience that left me fulfilled but also unsettled.
With “Black Bag”, another effort from Soderbergh and Koepp being released later this year, it’s clear that neither one shows any signs of slowing down. If their second film of 2025 is just as good as their first, then I think we can continue to be thrilled everytime we see a trailer with the graphic “A New Film From Steven Soderbergh”.
