Specters, lies and videotape: Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Presence’ jolts Sundance to life

PARK CITY, Utah — Steven Soderbergh’s “Presence,” a sleek and sublimely nimble ghost story with a world-premiere Friday night at the 40th annual Sundance Film Festival, hinges on a formal conceit so spookily effective that it’s hard to believe it’s never been attempted before. Maybe it has been (the history of independent cinema contains unseen, uncovered multitudes), though surely not to such thrillingly sustained ends, or with such ingenious modesty of means.

For the entirety of this 85-minute movie, we are in a handsome Craftsman-style home where a married couple, Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan), have recently moved in with their teenage children, Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang). From the start, as nerves fray and tempers flare, it’s clear this family has its demons, which will soon be supernaturally compounded by eerie rumblings, self-operating doors and collapsing shelves. But