Many an auteur has attempted to write a ghost story and nowadays, one such American auteur is Steven Soderbergh. A dark, evocative filmmaker who has produced a variety of films in his extensive career while always testing the possibilities and confines of motion pictures Soderbergh has done it all. It is safe to say that his latest, Presence, fits in with his canon. The film tells the almost cliched haunted surf story, but the entire film is shot from the point of view of a disembodied spirit who is the late friend of this family is vanishing to the new house and us thought to be them.
Presence is a hell of a ride, and Soderbergh does not disappoint when it comes to visuals. As always, Soderberg visualizes it himself people from a single viewpoint and one slightly moves explains the formal vanity modification that there is. Speaking of the film again, formal change was always controversial the scenes mostly consist of cutting away, that is, prophetic dreams jumping into a completely black screen afterward all scenes. Normally, this could be annoying, but because Soderberg implemented a loose structure, these aspects of the film bounced the audience’s attention wherever or whenever it was needed.
If this describes the film in one way, the ‘presence’ as it is known as, or I suppose it will be right to say the camera’ for the film’s point of view or a point of view character is an all watching ‘eye’ to see the events that take place at the very beginning of the film.
During such time intervals, we see different waves of contemplation from Chris (Chris Sullivan) as well as from Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and these two aged actors are able to make you believe that the story goes beyond the screen presence because of their character which only requires very little screen time. This is different in other scenes where Chloe (Callina Liang) has lost her family and is found in her room, all alone trying to adjust into her new environment, as well as grieving her friend’s death. With the help of the presence, who later on is an active force in the partition of the story, Chloe begins to piece together the several hints that seem to imply that the spirit affecting her house is that of her deceased friend.
The proliferation of escalating extremes in the family melodrama and their disorientation within the third act unfolding scene changes become a unified disruptive entity yielding situational gags, and over time, the presence becomes part of the narrative ion itself.
This supernatural turn around may look as non credible or far fetched to the audience but in a matter of fact it isn’t a fantasy but an effective trick played by Soderbergh’s direction. Audiences may not comprehend the reason or the purpose of the film ending the way it does, perhaps expecting a classical structure but in fact the purpose seems to be entirely different and much deeper in meaning.
Such views tend to create a certain image of the film that illuminates the personal side of Soderbergh as a director. Though there is a distinct personal style of the director in work and the film can appear unstructured because of that, Presence is a wonderfully crafted piece, and finally it is hard like Nicole Kidman to be mildly frustrated. The character is both witty and engaging, portraying comedic moments seamlessly entwined with the dramatic and well paced narrative, more than likely created within weeks, a commendable effort.
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