Presence (2024)
First screened and reviewed in November 2025
Director: Steven Soderbergh. Cast: Callina Liang, Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox, Natalie Wollams-Torres, Lucas Papaelias. Screenplay: David Koepp. In Brief:
I can see why the premise appealed. I cannot imagine the execution clicking for almost anyone. End is awful in every way.
VOR:②
I must grant that Soderbergh and Koepp seized a gimmick that no major filmmaker had attempted. But what they derived from it is neglible and ugly.
Before I went to bed, I had to undo and then redo 576 stitches of knitting because of two stupid mistakes, so I put on Presence, the shortest movie in my remaining watchlist of 2025 releases.
Basically, Presence is Steven Soderbergh undoing his own stitches, and then trying again but getting snarled even worse, and then getting so frustrated with this cool-looking but actually unworkable pattern he ordered on Ravelry from "Koepp, D." that in the last ten terrifically off-putting and emphatically failed minutes, he just rips it all out and throws both needles across the room. Yarn everywhere, as far as the wide-angle lenses can see.
It's okay, Steven. We all make mistakes! Most of us just aren't forced to then release them to the public. I don't envy you that, and I like that you keep trying stuff. I'm sure one of these years will be your year again. Grade:D+
(I originally wrote this review on Letterboxd, where you can comment if you like.)
