‘Presence’ Review: Steven Soderbergh Tells a Ghost Story from the Ghost’s POV. It Is Scary? Not Quite. But the Family Demons Lure You In
variety.comOwen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Presence,” a ghost story directed by Steven Soderbergh, is set entirely inside a lovely, renovated, 100-year-old suburban home, and before the characters even have a chance to move in, the place is already occupied.
The camera literally seems to be peering at things, staring out the second-floor windows, then coming down the stairs to witness the arrival of a harried real-estate agent, then the family of four she’s about to sell the house to.
Darting from room to room in an unbroken wide-angle-lens shot, the camera gives us an impromptu tour of the house, letting us drink in the crisp mint-green walls, the vintage wood that lines everything (windows, doors, stairway, fireplace), the ancient smoke-glass mirror and polished oak-board floors and elegant sprawling kitchen.
Yet this is no mere real-estate porn. For the entire rest of the movie, Soderbergh never abandons that bobbing, weaving voyeuristic camera’s-eye-view. “Presence” might be the first ghost story in which the ghost turns out to be Brian De Palma’s cinematographer.
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