Presence (2024) Dir: Steven Soderbergh

Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNvMtKoWpFu/?igsh=MWxyM3BlbW56enMxZQ==

Steven Soderbergh's unique-looking take on the haunted house horror genre was one of the film's I'd looked forward to seeing the most of any film I'd seen advertised over the last twelve months. It looked absolutely fascinating, and intensely unnerving, based on those tantalising teasers that were released in the build-up to the film's release.

The film featured an ambient, and at times very emotional, soundtrack, that I enjoyed a lot. With that said, there were times where it almost seemed to peak at not quite the right moment for the scene, but I can certainly see that this may be a taste issue as much as anything else. Either way, the score gave the film plenty of atmosphere and extra emotional weight to support the events of the story.

The camera providing a 'ghost pov' for the entire film was intriguing idea, and created an intensely voyeuristic and even somewhat invasive experience for the viewer. It didn't always provide the most effective shot for the scene it was showing, but it functioned well enough to get away with it, and was smooth enough to allow the audience to see pretty much everything they needed to without any significant struggle.

Trauma and horror go hand in hand, and this was yet another example of those two eternally intertwined brothers of storytelling. I would say that some of the writing was a little heavy-handed, on that front, but it got the emotional severity of the events across, which was the aim, after all. I would class the film as more of a psychological thriller than an out-and-out horror.

It was more atmospheric than it was scary or unsettling. It was also not without its issues, especially in the writing department. Some of the subplots felt very much unresolved by the end of the film, somewhat frustratingly, especially the mother's arc. I also felt that the main antagonist's motivations were pretty weak sauce, and their presentation crumbled in the final few scenes.

Callina Liang grew into the film very nicely in her leading role. I wasn't certain how I felt about her performance initially, but, by the end of the film, I was fully invested in her acting. She pulled together a very commendable leading performance, in the end. Surprisingly for me, Chris Sullivan turned out to be the biggest stand-out in the whole film. He felt so utterly believable, and expressed his emotions in such a genuine and grounded way, that it made it impossible not to like his character.

Lucy Liu provided some extremely compelling acting throughout her time on-screen, with the exception of one scene near the end of the film, which, respectfully, was very poorly acted, in my opinion. My least favourite performances came from Eddy Maday and West Mulholland, albeit Maday's was more because his character was so unlikeable, in fairness, whereas Mulholland just didn't act all that well, in my view.

Overall, although I definitely felt underwhelmed by this psychological horror film, I also found a lot of elements that I liked a lot. It's atmosphere and emotional base were brilliant. I just wish that the writing had been a little tighter, especially in the final quarter of the film. This was so close to being a genuinely great modern horror film, but it didn't quite stick the landing. Regardless, it is still a pretty good film - it just could've been even better.