Paranormal inactivity: ‘Presence’ a well-cast but gimmicky ghost tale that runs short on the boos
“Presence” — 2 stars
In Steven Soderbergh’s gimmicky, unscary ghost story “Presence,” we the audience become the supernatural entity roaming through a large suburban house with Steadicam fluidity, seeing only what it sees, hearing only what it hears.
This concept feels inspiringly fresh, for a while, as we — the mysterious entity — forego the conventional frights and violent deeds expected in the horror genre and take a surprisingly empathetic fondness to the new family just moving in.
Soderberg, teamed with screenwriter David Koepp for the second time, parcels out just enough background info on his characters to create one of the most economic and realistically believable cinematic portraits of what might be a typical, conflicted American family.
Chris, an emotionally subdued dad (Chris Sullivan), doesn’t really like the house on the walk-through, but his strong-willed wife, Rebekah (Lucy Liu), just loves the new digs, so they move in. He worries about his teen kids, a competitive swimmer named Tyler (Eddy Maday) and a despondent, socially cloistered student named Chloe (Callina Liang).
Two of Chloe’s friends recently died, suspected victims of drug overdoses, or possibly suicide.
Chris pushes Chloe to be more outgoing and get on with life. Rebekah dismisses him and says time will be the best medicine, setting up a cold war of not-so-passive resistance between the two.
Meanwhile, Tyler refuses to cut Sis any slack, accusing her of acting weird and being embarrassing. He does, however, introduce her to his friend, Ryan (West Mulholland), a confident kid with a mop of hair and a seductive approach that seems perfect for the insecure Chloe.
“It’s all about you,” he coos. “You are in control.”
Remember, we witness all of this domestic drama as the entity, constantly roaming through the house, ducking into closets and corners undetected. Except when Chloe senses its presence and believes it might be one of her deceased friends.
She nearly freaks when she discovers that something has moved her books around and tidied up her room while she took a shower.
When we, the entity, trash a closet and knock things off the furniture, Chris and Rebekah reluctantly allow a woman with Second Sight, Lisa (Natalie Woolams-Torres), into the house to communicate with us, the entity.
“It is confused,” Lisa says. She reports that the spirit feels a need to accomplish something but doesn’t know what.
Soderbergh — director/cinematographer/editor using two pseudonyms — takes a bold gamble to create an appealing supernatural tale that doesn’t qualify as horror and barely squeezes its thriller credentials in under the wire.
He uses strong actors, with superlative performances by Sullivan, Liu and especially a transcendent Liang, in a story that, like “Heretic,” proves the existence of God and the afterlife in the final shot.
Still, “Presence” does not fully work for me.
So many inconsistent details kept me from buying into the story’s internal logic.
Why do we, the entity, spend so much time apparently walking backward? To keep characters coming toward the camera perfectly in frame?
Why do we, the entity, race up staircases to observe something on the second floor in some scenes (consistent with the point-of-view), but in other scenes, Soderbergh simply cuts to the second floor?
When we, the entity, destroy a closet and wreck a bedroom, why do we, the audience, see it as if we’re standing on the other side of the room?
Why does the movie demonstrate that we, the entity, possess the ability to violently move and destroy objects, but when a character’s life becomes threatened, we, the entity, inexplicably become powerless to interfere?
Hey, it’s a ghost movie.
And one that might make Chekhov turn over in his grave.
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Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Other: A Neon theatrical release. Rated R for teen drinking, language, sexual situations. 85 minutes.