Though perfectly capable of guiding big budget projects starring giant names like Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich, Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh seems perfectly happy working on a smaller scale in pieces like Presence. Requiring only a single location, Soderbergh follows David Koepp’s screenplay, focusing
on a troubled family who moves into a nicely appointed older house in a good school district. All this comes from the vantage of the title character, never seen but made known through a camera held by director Soderbergh. Soderbergh glides the camera through different rooms, at times smoother and faster than a person but occasionally stopping to reveal important information about the family and dilemmas each member faces. Former Charlie’s Angel Lucy Liu heads the cast as the most recognizable face, while Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, and Eddy Maday round out the family in a low-key, natural manner. Each individual spends time alone, behaving the way people really do when unobserved, which qualifies as acting since we audience members see them through the eyes of the title presence. That presence watches, not revealing its motivations but implying some purpose—though none seems for jump-out-of-your seat horror moments. Atmospheric, thoughtful, and more creepy than scary, Presence shows Soderbergh as a clever filmmaker willing to experiment with and challenge traditional storytelling.
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