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Criticism Choice
Steven Soderbergh’s new chiller takes up position in one of the most troubled movie locations: a general circle of relatives of relatives.
By Manohla Dargis
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The entire ghost form of altruistic films up to Evil Lairs, however, is needed to read the entity’s drift, and infrequently, through the “presence” of Steven Soderbergh. However benign or malevolent, regardless of life or death, imaginable eternal salvation or endless damnation, this spirit captures your attention from the beginning because everything about this twisted, technically virtuous and strangely moving story is drawn from its point of view. From the moment the film opens, you see what it sees: the good, the mundane, the private, the terrifying. The kicker? Soderbergh holds the camera: he is the ghost in this machine.
It’s well-oiled, polished, frictionless Soderbergh stuff. Like many ghost stories, the tale takes position in one of the most traditionally problematic filming locations: a likely general circle of relatives. There, in a cute two-story suburban home with masses of herbal light, a wrap-around porch and a spacious backyard, your brain wanders to the beautiful and tasteful views and gazes through the many windows. Although he probably confined the house internally, he never feels trapped. Still, given all the mileage he racks up moving from the kitchen downstairs to the bedrooms upstairs, he’s obviously restless.
The ghost seems pretty benign despite the unease it stirs up. It’s attentive and obviously interested in the family of four that moves in soon after “Presence” opens. If anything, the ghost seems eager for company. It routinely follows the family around, particularly the daughter, Chloe (Callina Liang, lovely), like a faithful dog — that is if that pooch were invisible and human size. (The height of the ghost’s point of view is a tell.) It’s curious yet also seems reserved. It likes to hang out in Chloe’s closet and when she takes a shower, it stays outside the bathroom and tidies up, which suggests that it’s not — or, rather, wasn’t — a creep.
Screenwriter David Koepp seeds the story with such clues, giving you enough facts and existing data to pique your interest and keep you guessing as he and Soderbergh build up their anxiety. A scholar of the genre with a multitude of significant credits (“Jurassic Park (“”), Koepp has an affinity for stories set in confined spaces, especially spaces likely to become mouse traps: he wrote “Panic Room” by David Fincher, a mystery that takes its position almost entirely on action. Mystery, “Kimi”, about an agoraphobic woman drawn into a plot, “Presence” is another ideal trap to borrow for a filmmaker who loves demanding situations and. the artistic repositioning as much as Soderbergh.
The tightly constructed story takes place chronologically in scenes of varying length that end and begin suddenly, and are separated by a few seconds of black. As time passes and periodically progresses, one minute the space is empty, the next it is inhabited, the other members of the circle of relatives appear, adding the ruthless mother, Rebekah (Lucy Liu) and the mild-mannered Father Array Chris (Chris (Chris (Chris (Chris (Chris Sullivan). ). ) They are obviously not satisfied and one of the reasons may be Rebekah’s devious determination for her son, Tyler (Eddy Maday), a star athlete at school whose Arrogance can turn into cruelty. Chris, in turn, loves Chloé, a delicate and tearful woman who has ended a trauma that already haunts her and her circle of relatives, before moving.
Chloé’s afterlife, her parents’ marriage and the limited point of view of the ghost create in combination a palpable unease that the filmmakers depend on until they all vibrate with tension and strange things. Although there are some shocks related to haunted houses, the cumulative effect is more disturbing than scary.
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