An absorbing ghost movie by Soderbergh.
I think we can agree that the “Paranormal Activity” movies have jumped the shark, which I why I have skipped the last few entries. But Steven Soderbergh has made a ghost movie called “Presence,” which is told from the point of view of the ghost. And therefore, the cinematography is done very well by the filmmaker. It’s quite absorbing when we see how the spirit walks around the house and what he/she wants, and there’s an aftermath to it, which isn’t just the special effects, but also the very nature of what unfolds here.
As we begin watching the film, we’re going to have to assume that the apparition is the spirit of a dear friend of Chloe (Callina Liang). And yes, the ghost is a girl, so I guess that answers my question above. Something has happened to that dead girl, and maybe she’s trying to tell her friend something, even if it means shaking things up in the house.
She tells her dysfunctional family, and out of all of them, which consists of her parents Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) and jerky athletic brother Tyler (Eddy Maday), the brother thinks she’s crazy. I’m relieved it isn’t the parents who would think that, especially since I just dealt with that formula in “Dear Santa.” This movie makes some wiser choices, although we think Tyler needs a personality check.
The movie is too short to fully examine everything and it does run for an hour and 25 minutes, but we are able to grasp the family and what each of them represents. I like to think of “Presence” a little bit like “Paranormal Activity” without the video cameras or a little bit like “Enter the Void” without the drug hallucinations and extremely graphic content or “A Ghost Story” without the David Lowery ambiance or white sheets. This movie is on a smaller scale, but it all pays off, and we need a break from the cliches we’ve been suffering from in movies like “Wolf Man” or “Back in Action” or “Flight Risk.” I know they’re different genres, but you know what I’m getting at.
We need to take a break from seeing the same movie with the same rules. We should look for different elements, and “Presence” is an example.
Written by David Koepp, there are well-acted conversations and arguments, which aren’t forced or labored, but honest and consistent. Sometimes, it can be funny, and other times, it can be serious and feature a lot of cursing. And nobody tries too hard to make sure of that. Liang is a revelation as the main heroine, while Maday makes a convincing jerky brother, Sullivan has the right motivation as the dad, and Liu has the right tone as the mom. And I also like the way the film uses West Mulholland as Tyler’s friend and Chloe’s secret boyfriend.
I’m sure general movie-goers may have some questions, and I’m still curious myself, but you have to open your mind to the possibilities here. In fact, there’s a lot more than what “Wolf Man” offered us last week. It’s not the kind of ghost movie where everything has to freak you out, but rather, it uses patience and consistency, and you want to know what the spirt wants.
And the fact that this is a ghost movie with a dysfunctional family, makes me wonder how the Hoover family would have dealt with a spirit in their home.
