Presence (MA) – movie review

A supernatural force is present in the house Rebekah (Lucy Liu), her husband Chris (Chris Sullivan) and their teenage children Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang) move into. Tyler is an elite swimmer and it is at his mother’s insistence to maximise his future prospects that they purchase the home. Tyler is Rebekah’s favourite and she would do anything for him.

Chloe is the younger, sensitive and empathetic child. She is in therapy after losing her best friend Nadia, who died in her sleep after an apparent drug overdose. Nadia was one of two girls who Chloe knew that died in similar circumstances recently. Soon after Chloe and her family moved into their new residence, she began to sense Nadia’s presence. Items move in her room and there are sounds.

Tyler and her sister don’t get along. He thinks she has mental health issues. Tyler’s friend Ryan (West Mulholland) shows interest in Chloe and makes a move on her. Chris is concerned about Chloe and wishes Rebekah would pay more attention to her. Rebekah is involved in some shady dealings and Chris is considering leaving her. Then, unexpectedly, the entity in the house makes its presence felt to the whole family.

Written by David Koepp, with Steven Soderbergh in the director’s chair*, Presence unfolds through a series of vignettes, peppered with brief blackouts. Each represents an episode in the family members’ lives. Another character in the film is the forcefield that is apparent throughout. That is represented by a handheld camera that moves repeatedly through the home, upstairs and down. It proves to be an effective tool by night and day.

I thought the contention was well established and each character played along effectively. Lucy Liu paints Rebekah as headstrong and Chris Sullivan is troubled as Chris. Eddy Maday gives Tyler an air of arrogance, while as Chloe, Callina Liang is empathic. There is an edge to West Mulholland’s portrayal of Ryan. I appreciated the slow build up and the denouement that explains what has been going on. In between I felt intrigue and a desire to learn more. The air of mystery kept me involved.

*Soderbergh and Koepp worked together on Kimi and Black Bag, the latter of which will be released soon.

Score: 7.5/10

Alex First

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Here are Greg King’s thoughts about the film:

Steven Soderbergh’s latest film is a low budget supernatural haunted house tale that could be a distant cousin of the supernatural Paranormal Activity series. But unlike those films, which drew upon the found footage aesthetic, in Presence all of its drama unfolds from the perspective of the poltergeist that inhabits the house. It’s a clever gimmick.

Presence is in essence a domestic drama with a supernatural angle, but there is little scary about the project, which may disappoint hard-core horror fans. The film deals with themes of dysfunctional family relationships, abuse, grief, isolation and paranormal phenomena, but it takes a darker turn towards the end. Soderbergh is one of those prolific filmmakers who often experiments with different genres and approaches to filmmaking. Presence is certainly an interesting addition to his canon of work, even if it is not completely successful.

Soderbergh shot the film himself, using his regular pseudonym of Peter Andrews. He effectively uses handheld cameras to prowl through the empty house at the start of the film, taking in every room, giving us point of view shots from the perspective of the spirit. This gives the material something of a voyeuristic quality. The drama is confined to a single location and the house itself becomes one of the main characters in the film.

Soderbergh also employs some long, continuous takes and he experiments with unusual camera angles to add to the disorienting mood he is trying to create. The camera sometimes shakes in an attempt to show the spirit’s anger or displeasure at what is happening around Chloe. Apart from the ending, the camera never leaves the house – even scenes that take place outside, such as a heated family discussion on the back verandah or people arriving by car, are shot through windows and doors.

Performances from the small cast are generally okay. Liu is fine as the emotionally distant Rebecca and Liang brings empathy and sympathy to her performance. Mulholland has a disturbing presence as Ryan. However, some of the dialogue seems improvised and the delivery is stilted. Presence is an interesting experiment from Soderbergh, who has some intriguing ideas to explore, but in the end this is more a case of style over substance.

Score: 5/10