All We Imagine as Light

This film was fine, but I'm struggling to understand what sets it apart. While it's artistic, the film lacks a compelling narrative. It seems to tick the right boxes-a woman of color from Europe directing-but beyond that, what makes it stand out? I'm baffled by the critical acclaim. The acting was solid, the score was minimal, and the direction was decent. It feels like the inclusion of nudity and explicit scenes is what ultimately sold the film. Is this really what filmmakers must resort to in order to cater to Western audiences? The pacing is incredibly slow, which likely appealed to the French audience and contributed to its selection at Cannes.

Cannes loves films like these!

A powerfully melancholic & profoundly intimate slice of social realism that's further bolstered by outstanding performances from its trio of ladies, All We Imagine As Light is as perceptive as it is patient, as vociferous in its silence as it is contemplative in its portrait and is as expertly crafted as it is sensibly told, thus announcing the arrival of a bold & fresh creative voice from the Indian filmmaking scene.

Written & directed by Payal Kapadia in her feature film debut, the film is an earnest reflection of everyday life in the bustling cosmopolitan that is Mumbai and makes for a sobering observation of the confines & constraints within which women of Indian society exist. Kapadia takes her time to acquaint us with her characters, gives them ample space to breathe and shows their plight & desires with tenderness.

What stands out about Kapadia's direction is the compassion in the sketching of her characters and gentleness with which each scene is shot. The cinematography is breathtaking, illuminating the rain-drenched, dimly-lit streets & spaces of the city in gorgeous colour palette, with camera angles that add to its mesmerising quality while additional enrichment comes from the excellent performances, evocative score & layered depths.

Overall, All We Imagine As Light inclines more towards an arthouse endeavour than mainstream offering and isn't going to satisfy every palate. The first half of the film is thoroughly riveting but once the setting changes from Mumbai to the beach town, the story slows down considerably & its runtime is deeply felt too despite the closure it brings. Ruminating on womanhood, loneliness, female desire & insecurities, Kapadia's film is a poetic meditation on migrant life in modern India.

"Prabha" (Kani Kusruti) is a nurse in a busy Mumbai hospital who shares her tiny apartment with the usually skint "Anu" (Divya Prabha). We quickly learn that she is married but her husband left her some while ago to work in Germany and she hasn't heard from him in over a year. "Anu", on the other hand, has a different emotional problem. She has fallen in love with a young Muslim man "Shiaz" (Hridhu Haroon) but knows full well that neither her colleagues nor her family will ever permit such a relationship, let alone any marriage - so perhaps elopement is their only solution. Meantime, whilst these women deal with their own domestic issues, their friend "Parvaty" (Chhaya Kadam) is facing eviction from her home as the developers want to move in. Their threats have given way to more practical action as her electricity has been disconnected. In the face of this, she decides it's time to return to her ocean-side village where at least she has her own home. Sympathetic to her plight, the two friends agree to accompany her and it's whilst there that we discover through conversation and flash-backs a little of just how each woman found themselves where they are now, and we take a look at what opportunities might present themselves for their futures. It's a delicately presented story this, set amongst the hustle and bustle of a city that never stops. These women care about others all the time, but are gradually becoming aware that they also have to start caring more about themselves - and for "Prabha" who has attracted the interest of the kindly "Dr. Manoj" (Azees Nedumangad) she has to decide whether to remain faithful to her past or look to what might be next. There's some solid photography throughout capturing both the lively (and frequently rainy) urban busyness as well as the beauty of the water and the ancient peaceful symbolism carved in the caves, and the whole thrust of the narrative illustrates poignantly the choices (or lack of them) that these women can make in a society where conformity is the order of the day. It can be quite fun at times too, these women are not sackcloth and ashes characters, but there's still a potent message that creates an engaging and characterful study that's well worth a couple of hours.

I really wanted to like this film after hearing so many positive reviews however it falls short of a masterpiece for me and is just another forgettable film that does nothing spectacular.

The film is about a Malayali nurse working in Bombay who lives away from her husband, she shares a room with another nurse who has a lover and they both find it hard to find a place. Third story is about an old woman being driven out of the house she lives in.

To my dismay the film gives in too much to the cliched tropes to the point of being downright predictable and boring. The protagonist is longing for a connection albeit she guards herself against it, at many points she is the super ego of the film shutting down the despairing cries of others with dictums yet by the end trying to imagine light in the darkness of her loneliness.

In that sense, her roommate is her antithesis, she has no inhibitions, she is in love with a Muslim boy and they are looking for a place to make love.

Recognize the beaten path of a storyline of a subdued woman, she is shown to be too righteous, almost like a nun, as a matter of fact the background score of the film is taken from a piece composed by an Ethiopian nun. In many ways it reminded me of Ishiguro's "Remains of the day". The story of the roommate and her lover really didn't add that much to the story other than working as a filler for sex, I'm personally not a big fan of misplaced nudity and sex in films, it's exploitative in nature and does little to carry the story.

The story about the old lady started off as a social commentary on class, and the hidden rules of society, at one point she questions whether she should confront the reality of her existence or get indulged in the illusion like everyone else. She ends up leaving the city for her hometown. This story goes nowhere and thus it felt underwhelming.

All in all, the film doesn't say anything new, it does not punch you in the gut like Salaam Bombay, it doesn't make you somber like The Lunchbox however one cannot help but admire Payal Kapadia's craft, I have seen numerous films on Bombay but nothing captures it like the film does but it felt like - specially in the second half of the film - that she was trying very hard to make each story reconcile and come to closure.

By no means I'm calling this a bad film, it's crafty and well made but fails to say anything that has not been said before through film.

She made peace with the young love and embraced it -something she missed on herself- only after she gave herself a closure, a form of confrontation through projection, her own emotional catharsis.

I loved the relationship all three women had with each other, real, quite and safe, yet not too dramatic and unrealistic as you can still sense the distance and emotional complexities between them -as in any human relationship-.

The slow pace of the movie, while I definitely understand that it's not for everyone's liking, made the emotions seen throughout the movie, more felt, amplified..

Note: The track at the final scene was also beautiful and deserves a thank you -from me-.