Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light, fresh from its Grand Prix win at Cannes, arrives trailing clouds of expectation. While undeniably visually arresting and emotionally resonant in pockets, the film ultimately feels like a collection of beautifully captured vignettes in search of a cohesive narrative. What could have been a profound exploration of human connection instead feels scattered, leaving the audience adrift in a sea of good intentions and missed opportunities.
The film follows two nurses, Prabha and Anu, navigating life, love, and loneliness in Mumbai. Their stories, along with that of Prabha's roommate, intertwine loosely, offering glimpses into the struggles of urban life for women in contemporary India. Kapadia excels at capturing the atmosphere of the city - the vibrant chaos, the quiet moments of reflection, the shimmering beauty of a rain-soaked night. The cinematography, by Ranabir Das, is undoubtedly the film's strongest asset, employing a dreamlike aesthetic that draws the viewer into the characters' emotional landscapes.
However, these stunning visuals are sadly let down by a plot that feels more like a meandering stream than a focused river. The individual stories, while potentially compelling, lack the narrative drive to carry a feature-length film. We are given fragments of relationships, snippets of conflict, and fleeting moments of joy, but they never coalesce into a larger, more meaningful whole. The lack of a central plot leaves the film feeling unfocused and, at times, frustratingly aimless.
The performances are generally strong, with Kani Kusruti delivering a particularly nuanced portrayal of the older, more guarded Prabha. However, even the talented cast can't fully compensate for the film's structural shortcomings. We are given glimpses into the characters' inner lives, but their motivations often remain opaque, their actions feeling more like a product of the filmmaker's whims than a natural progression of the story.
Ultimately, All We Imagine As Light feels like a missed opportunity. It's a film that prioritizes mood and atmosphere over narrative coherence, leaving the audience with a sense of longing for what could have been. While the film undoubtedly boasts moments of beauty and emotional depth, it ultimately fails to deliver a satisfying cinematic experience. It's a visually impressive, but ultimately overrated, exploration of human connection that gets lost in its own dreamy haze, leaving the viewer with little more than a collection of scattered fragments, as ephemeral as the light it so beautifully captures.
