“Have you ever noticed that your advice always corresponds exactly with us not having to do anything at all?”

Better as a discussion starter than a cinematic experience in and of itself, Steven Soderbergh’s conceptually fascinating Presence presents a haunted house story shot entirely from the ghost’s point of view, with each scene consisting of exactly one shot, all set within a single location. As with most films that take their “one shot” technique earnestly—so not counting movies like Children of Men (2006) or 1917 (2019) which use visual effects to stitch together multiple shots—Presence occasionally soldiers through a flubbed chord or two, but remains an intimate and compelling if overcooked family drama tinged with the supernatural. Once again serving as director, cinematographer, and editor, Soderbergh also, by virtue of the POV representing a spectral character, should be considered an actor in this film and credited alongside Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, and Julia Fox. Though David Koepp’s screenplay is one of the weak spots here, he teamed up with Soderbergh again last year for the more conventional, more successful Black Bag (2025).