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PRESENCE

Starring: Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, and West Mulholland
Director: Steven Soderbergh

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NICK

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Presence is one of Steven Soderbergh's most ambitious films in years. Relying on a first-person shooting approach and continuous single shots could have felt gimmicky, but the director deserves credit for making sure it never does. Unfortunately, for a film this style to work best, you need crisp dialogue, and what we get ranges from natural (almost exclusively Chris Sullivan's lines) to inadvertently laughable. It certainly hurts the film, but if you can get past it, there IS an interesting story to be found. I respect what Soderbergh attempted, but it’s not without its challenges. That said, it will stick with me for a while.

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ADRIANO

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There is a lot of fun to be had with Presence despite its many obvious shortcomings. I thought the POV gimmick might quickly become annoying, but it wound up being surprisingly effective. That said, the horror is just a weak backdrop to a poorly written family drama with M. Night-level dialogue that only Chris Sullivan is able to make sound believable. As the movie reaches its conclusion, the established rules start to make less and less sense. It genuinely made me wanna scream "WHAT?!" But... I kinda enjoyed that, despite it being utter nonsense.

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PRESTON

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Presence is a unique “thriller” from director Steven Soderbergh, but it should have been categorized as strictly a psychological drama (it’s so not a thriller). The compilation of one-shots from the first-person POV is laudable and pretty cool, but the story is lacking and inconsistent with the emotional connection that the conclusion intends. One-note character development and an over-the-top monologue detract from what should have been an impactful and satisfying conclusion. The camerawork is nice to witness on the big screen, but waiting for a streaming release and a re-calibration of your genre expectations should improve your chances of enjoyment.

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KATIE

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Presence was one of my most anticipated films this year thanks to the enigmatic teaser that piqued my interest without revealing anything apart from the unique point-of-view camerawork. First, it's not scary, at least not in a traditional horror sense, but that didn’t negate my enjoyment. It focuses on morality and personal responsibility, and the first-person approach is very effective at drip-feeding information about the mysterious motivations of the titular presence. The dialogue is sometimes flat, and I wish it dug deeper into the family drama, but overall, it's a very interesting genre experiment that I’d recommend checking out.

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QUENTIN

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Truth be told, I haven’t liked a Steven Soderbergh offering since 2017’s Logan Lucky (eight movies and three series ago), and I was worried the first-person aspect of Presence was going to be too gimmicky. However, I was blown away. To be clear, this isn’t a horror movie at all. It’s a heavy family drama, and I was immediately immersed in the familial dynamics at play on screen (most of the credit goes to Chris Sullivan’s performance). It’s very similar to David Lowery’s A Ghost Story (which also blew me away), and I suspect that, much like Story, Presence won’t leave my mind for some time.

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This film was reviewed by Nick and Adriano as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

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