Streaming: Steven Soderbergh’s Presence and the best haunted house films

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The director’s witty supernatural thriller joins Psycho, Hereditary, The Brutalist and more – films in which buildings are characters in their own right The first more-or-less horror movie in the lengthy, genre-skimming career of director Steven Soderbergh , Presence is a film about grief, trauma, familial dysfunction and abusive masculinity. But it’s also, to a significant and compelling extent, about property. Beginning with a family’s first viewing of a handsome Victorian home in an unidentified stretch of suburbia, the film never ventures outside its walls for the next 85 minutes, as the ensuing chills make us consider the merits of that purchase. Wittily and unnervingly shot from the perspective of the restless spirit roaming its halls, it’s a haunted house film in which much of the tension feels determined by the shape and flow and light and shade of the house itself. It’s a while since I’ve seen a film where I could quite so exactly draw the floor plan of its primary location,...
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The Bilbaos review – soulful study of a tough guy boxer dealing with emotional baggage

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Pedro Speroni’s documentary follows Iván Bilbao’s return from prison to a family full of troubles and tenderness

Fresh out of prison after a five-year stint in maximum security, Iván Bilbao comes home to the open arms of his family in Chascomús, a small town two hours south of Buenos Aires. Looking to return to professional boxing, he maintains his muscular physique through rigorous training, all while keeping his old job as a moneylender. Seeing beyond Iván’s criminal past, Pedro Speroni’s soulful documentary reveals the fragility that lies behind his tough-guy facade.

Bearing the marks of his difficult life, Iván’s handsome, weathered face softens when he is with his girlfriend Yamila and her daughter Luz. When the day winds down, laughter fills the house as the three of them share a meal together. At the same time, the emotional baggage of family traumas, along with economic insecurity, also threaten to disrupt Iván’s efforts at rehabilitation. A tender scene where he serenades Yamila is quickly followed by a heated argument in which an angry Iván lashes out at his mother for being unsupportive of his relationships.

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