Middleburg Review: “All We Imagine As Light”

All We Imagine As Light (Payal Kapadia, 2024) 4 out of 5 stars

Meditative cinema, when done well, immerses us in the slow unfolding of the seemingly mundane details of existence that, upon closer inspection, prove to be anything but ordinary. Even if familiar in contours, the universality of subject gains specificity as we approach with our intimate gaze. If we willingly submit to the subtle magic of the movie’s pace, even the most unhurried of narratives can offer truths both urgent and immediate.

Such is the case with All We Imagine As Light, from Indian director Payal Kapadia (A Night of Knowing Nothing). Set mostly in Mumbai, the film centers its story on the displaced, those uneasy souls who have come to the big city in search of opportunities and, perchance, dreams. Expectations of culture, social class, and gender clash as our protagonists struggle to find meaning in their everyday lives.

First among them is Prabha (Kani Kusruti, Biriyaani), a nurse approaching middle age whose husband decamped long ago for Germany. The lonely Dr. Manoj (Azees Nedumangad, Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey) shows interest, but she is tied to the idea of her role as faithful wife. Prabha’s roommate is the younger Anu (Divya Prabha, Ariyippu), also a nurse, who courts scandal by secretly dating a Muslim man, Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon,Thugs); she, as a Hindu, is expected to consent to an arranged marriage with another Hindu.

Little by little, the plot, such as it is, unfolds. The score, including gently lilting piano trills, by Topshe, repeats its motifs at intervals, reminding us of the repetition of sorrows that weigh on Prabha, her loneliness increasingly panful to bear. In contrast, Anu seeks adventure where she can get it, even donning a burqa to visit Shiaz in his own neighborhood without arousing suspicion (the rain, unfortunately foils those plans). Though Prabha disapproves of what she thinks she knows of Anu’s activities, it’s hard to condemn the desire to break free from convention.

There’s a third woman, too: Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam, Jhund), who works as the hospital cook. Though she has lived in Mumbai for decades, she is originally from a village well to the south. Because of urban redevelopment, she is no longer able to afford a place in the city, and Prabha and Anu volunteer to help her move back to her first home. It’s on that trip that Kapadia deftly raises the stakes of everyone’s emotional journey, forcing her characters to confront uncomfortable realities as well as new hopes.

The film is filled with a number of India’s many different languages, among them Malayalam, Hindi, and Marathi, not all of which are shared equally by Mumbai’s residents. Dr. Manoj, for instance, battles daily with Hindi, which complicates his ability to communicate with his patients. But despite these linguistic difficulties, our principal protagonists, who mostly speak Malayalam, get by.

All We Imagine As Light becomes, by its end, a beautiful example of the way that little things can amount to big beats. Nothing is resolved, but much has changed. The transformation is within. The tempo is deliberate, and sometimes the narrative rambles, yet we are more often than not hypnotized by the poignancy of scenes. The future, whatever it holds, comes next.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator, as well as Film Festival Today's Editor. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.