Movie Review: Though Not Exactly Original, PRESENCE Delivers An Inventive And Engrossingly Haunting Experience

Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has remained, in recent years, within a profoundly experimental phase, which is exciting as he continues to play with conventions and cinema tropes and deliver them in some genuinely fascinating ways. His latest film, Presence, presents a haunted house story from the ghost’s perspective. While other filmmakers have attempted this (David Lowery’s A Ghost Story), Soderbergh gives the audience a riveting and emotional journey as a ghost witnesses a family’s problems as they experience their compelling growing pains. His movie delivers plenty of riveting moments with a climax and resolution that is both thrilling and sorrowful.

After experiencing a palpable tragedy, a family moves into what seems to be a dream house, full of promises of a better future. Of course, a new home can only do so much. Every family member has issues and problems, some of which are self-inflicted. The family consists of parents, Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan), a married couple, obviously not on the same page. Their teen children, Chloe (Callina Liang) and her brother Tyler (Eddy Maday) are also not in the same places in their lives.

Though Tyler seems to be unaffected by his sister’s problems and is only concerned with his future ahead, Chloe continues to cope with the untimely death of her best friend and acts out as a way of dealing with her trauma. It becomes clear to Chloe that her new home has a ghost, or spirit of sorts living there and watching her. At first, her family dismisses her concerns as a cry for attention. However, one unexplained event reveals that Chloe may be on to something.

Written by David Koepp, and directed by Soderbergh, Presence is a thoroughly engrossing film. It is a haunting ghost story and reminds the audience that families often have genuine problems and dysfunctions. Though Soderbergh gives us the perspective of the ghost, we get to witness how families can crumble and implode due to the pressures of society and the ways bad people can further affect the family unit.

Soderbergh uses his skills and tools well to make us the ghost within the house and the feeling of being almost powerless to stop the bad things from happening. The cast performs exceptionally, with Callina Liang giving the standout performance of the family members. I was also impressed with the acting of West Mulholland, who stars as Ryan, Tyler’s best friend, Chloe’s love interest, and a source of genuine trouble for the family.

Though Soderbergh’s film doesn’t initially seem like it demands to be watched in a theater, I must encourage my readers to do so, as I found the experience all the more engrossing while watching it in a dark auditorium, on a big screen.

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