Presence movie review: The Spirit is Willing

They have just moved into a well-lit spacious house with long and gleaming wooden surfaces, and a big porch and backyard, in a brand new neighbourhood. Chloe lost her best friend in a sudden death recently, but an enthusiastic Rebekah is more focused on Tyler, his budding swimming career, and how the move to this new area may boost his chances for a college scholarship.

It’s evident Rebekah has little time for Chloe, especially her sadness, and says as much to Tyler one evening when she has had a few too many. Her callousness towards Chloe grates Chris, and makes him confront a side of Rebekah – including things she is hiding on the financial and work front – that he has been avoiding.

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Soderbergh’s camera is literally the Presence of this film, with this sort-of ghost story told from the viewpoint of the ghost. It quietly trails the family closely and panoramically through the house, sliding up and down the stairs, slipping in and out of bedrooms, hanging over the dining table and the kitchen counter, and never entering any toilet or leaving the house; it is also clearly pretty tall from the angle of its vision.

Chloe is the only one who can feel it, including physically at times, with the ‘presence’ particularly protective of this girl who is clearly vulnerable and who opens up almost too quickly to Tyler’s new friend Ryan (Mulholland). The clearly favoured sibling, Tyler is almost always dismissive of Chloe, not even realising at first that his sister lost not one but two people she knew to similar deaths.

Soderbergh, who shoots his own films, endows Presence with his characteristic style and intimacy, and gets the best out of Liang, Liu and Sullivan. There is a creeping sense of what’s coming for this family and how. However, while the film is set up beautifully, its resolution is as prosaic as it can get from anything otherworldly.

Soderbergh also believes in tight, slick compositions, and Presence may be a little too rushed in its denouement. The ending has stirred assertions about “the real identity” of the ghost, and if it is being read thus, one can’t help but feel a failure on Soderbergh’s part. The ghost of Presence deserves a life eternal – and unknown.

Presence movie cast: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland
Presence movie director: Steven Soderbergh
Presence movie rating: 3.5 stars