Another year, another film from the highly prolific, and definitely un-retired, Steven Soderbergh.
Soderbergh’s latest effort is a spookfest, titled “Presence,” starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, and Julia Fox. This is a horror film, well, actually, it’s being dubbed a “psychological thriller,” but, still, based on the reviews, it’s very much in the vein of horror.
There’s a ridiculous Variety piece, published today, titled “Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Presence’ Was So Intense That Some Sundance Viewers Walked Out: ‘I Cannot Take This Stress’ — of course, the only example given by the author of such audience fright was a single person in the audience, and they do admit that walkouts barely occurred.
“Presence”, written by David Koepp, takes place in a suburban house that’s inhabited by an unknown force. What’s particularly original about “Presence” is that Soderbergh decided to shoot the film from the point-of-view of the ghost — you’re watching the ghost watching everyone else.
The reactions for Soderbergh’s 85-minute ghost story have so far been positive — it’s at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 8 reviews) and 75 on Metacritic.
Soderbergh has been an incredibly reliable filmmaker ever since his 1989 Palme d’Or winning debut, “Sex, Lies and Videotape.” There are too many top-tier films to list, but prime among them are “Traffic,” “The Limey,” and “Out of Sight.”
The prolific 60-year-old filmmaker has moved between psychological thriller, to drama, to comedy, albeit never allowing the films to lose that distinct Soderbergh-ian touch. He retired in early 2013, clarifying that he had a five-year plan that saw him transitioning away from making feature films when he reached his 50th birthday.
And yet, here we are at the start of a new decade, and, so much for retirement. Soderbergh has released 8 movies in the last 6 years, including 2022’s excellent “KIMI.”
Soderbergh is a master of the mise-en-scène; without knowing he was behind the camera, you can easily spot one of his movies. However, there’s definitely plenty of folks who believe that ever since his 2000 Oscar-winning “Traffic,” he’s been more about quantity than quality.
The last 15 years, Soderbergh’s released 14 movies, and that’s despite his “retirement” from 2014-2016. Which of these films has been his best during this stretch? “The Girlfriend Experience,” “The Informant,” “Contagion,” “Haywire,” “Magic Mike,” “Side Effects,” “Logan Lucky,” “Unsane,” “High Flying Bird,” “The Laundromat,” “Let Them All Talk,” “No Sudden Move,” “Kimi,” or “Magic Mike’s Last Dance”?
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.