Presence Review
Steven Soderbergh’s extensive filmography certainly proves how diverse his directing style can be. From the euphoric Magic Mike films to the thrilling action of the Ocean’s series, Soderbergh doesn’t play around when it comes to interconnected storytelling. However, Soderbergh has always sought to always try new things with his experimental filmmaking philosophies. He’s managed to do this with the Che biopics and Unsane, which are extremely terrifying, yet “down-to-earth.” This year, Soderbergh is continuing down that path through his most recent unsettling film, the supernatural horror, Presence.
Presence follows a family who have just moved into a new house through the perspective of a supernatural figure. As the family gets settled in, “It” begins to watch each member very closely, especially the daughter of the family, Chloe. Witnessing every moment the family shares, both good and bad, “It” tries to understand its purpose while it’s here. Shown through brief moments, Presence unravels how families confront skepticisms, changes in life, and each other.
Going in blind to watch Presence is perhaps the best thing to do when approaching this film. Some may have expectations that this may be something like It Follows or Paranormal Activity by having these backpedalled perspectives. Soderbergh instead brings something unusual to the table by placing the viewer as “It” through the subjective camera. By putting the audience into the body of “It”, the film is trying to make us feel empathetic towards the cause of this figure. It makes us embody “It” not just to give us a higher sense of what’s going on, but also to let us have that interaction with the film’s world.
The use of the subjective camera really gives Presence a life of its own. The cinematography, also done by Soderbergh, gives “It” this cautious, yet curious, personality of its own as it swoops into each room. When it interacts with the family, leaning into a scene physically and metaphorically, it creates this unnerving feeling really well. This is especially so in a later scene, when the family finally begins to investigate what “It” wants. Aside from that, the camerawork mostly makes the audience take a backseat by literally having “It” watch what the family does by establishing this boundary.
Through that, Presence is able to make us resonate with this family very deeply. Throughout this film, the family is divided on whether or not this supernatural phenomena is real. Though the mother, Rebecca (Lucy Liu), and the son, Tyler (Eddy Maday), are exceptionally atheistic, the father Chris (Chris Sullivan), and daughter, Chloe (Callina Liang), are more skeptical of “It”. However, in between the spiritual skepticisms, Rebecca and Chris are dealing with their own turmoil in their marriage. These bits and pieces that are inserted into the main narrative add enough subtlety to help make the family’s dilemma more grounded.
This overarching issue, through “It’s” perspective, makes one really feel this mental divide, only heightened thanks to Chloe’s spiritual sixth sense. Throughout Presence, the family itself is struggling through Chloe, whose friends were mysteriously killed off. While this film keeps this fact lingering in their minds, it really starts to become much clearer when it deals with more harsh topics. As a trigger warning for those curious about Presence, the idea of sexual abuse heavily plays a role later in the film. Particularly, it centers around Chloe and another character who gets introduced (West Mulholland) that may initially have good intentions. However, when the film reveals this twist, which thankfully wasn’t a complete surprise, it will truly start to leave you disturbed.
The characters themselves are diverse in personality, with Chloe being the standout among them. Initially, Chloe may seem like the shy, introverted girl in the family, but Callina Liang is able to provide this complexity to her. As her beliefs in “It” are slowly accepted by her father, Liang really shows how capable and open Chloe can be through these sympathetic means. Additionally, Chris Sullivan as the family patriarch, Chris, really accentuates that spiritual intrigue most have with this soft-spoken brevity. He really shines in the second act, where he actually starts to care for Chloe’s superstitions despite what Rebecca and Tyler assume.
Whereas Chloe and Chris have much of the character development needed in Presence, Rebecca and Tyler stay the same for the most part. Sure, they serve as captivating polar opposites to Chloe and Chris, but the subtle changes in their personalities are not really felt. As such, it’s a bit hard to connect with them as characters. However, when the film finally breaks them down, it can be somewhat of a whiplash. Nonetheless, Lucy Liu and Eddy Maday were great as Rebecca and Tyler respectively.
Steven Soderbergh’s Presence does a good job examining the concept of skepticism through its unique cinematography and its complex family dynamic. It’s a hauntingly intense and unnerving horror-thriller movie that really keeps you hooked even though it addresses really difficult topics. Overall, Soderbergh’s cinematographic experiment through Presence works, even if it could’ve used more time.
Presence arrives in theaters Friday, January 24.
Rating: ★★★½
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Christopher Gallardo is a freelance entertainment writer and critic. While not running The Reel Roller, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV. Outside of entertainment writing, he’s currently taking classes for a Bachelor’s of Science with a minor in Digital Media & Journalism. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! Follow Christopher on Instagram & X.