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All We Imagine as Light

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100% Tomatometer 111 Reviews 80% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut. Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital--head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha)--plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia's film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquility of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. All We Imagine as Light is a soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and sisterhood, in all its complexities and richness.
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All We Imagine as Light

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Critics Consensus

Capturing the here and now of modern India with the spontaneity of a candid photograph, All We Imagine as Light is a lustrous achievement that announces Payal Kapadia as an essential filmmaker.

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Critics Reviews

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Danny Leigh Financial Times What follows is still compelling, but two-sided again: you realise why people leave the city, and why they long to get back there. Rated: 4/5 Dec 7, 2024 Full Review Clarisse Loughrey Independent (UK) It’s a film that feels like a long exhale, the moment of unburdening after a tight embrace. It’s beautiful. Rated: 5/5 Dec 3, 2024 Full Review Wendy Ide Observer (UK) It’s a marvel of a movie, with something of the humanist poetry of Satyajit Ray or Edward Yang. And it’s all the more remarkable given that this is Kapadia’s first fiction feature. What a talent. Rated: 5/5 Nov 30, 2024 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Explores the lives of three working-class hospital workers from Mumbai. Rated: B Dec 6, 2024 Full Review Manuel Betancourt FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) It's poetry in cinema, and it is enchanting. Dec 5, 2024 Full Review Lael Loewenstein FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) A lyrical, meditative, beautiful, sad but also hopeful story of sisterhood. Dec 5, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (14) audience reviews
Roy J Wasn't expecting half the movie to be about Mumbai then suddenly shift to a sea-side village. Excellent performances and direction. India should have submitted this for the Oscars Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/04/24 Full Review Laldee Beautiful atmospheric film about love and female friendship. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/25/24 Full Review devdutt well acted, good use of colour palette, some funny and poetic moments. seemingly gratuitous exposure of the body that felt awkward and contrived, slow meandering pace that seemed unnecessary. imagination as the light in a dark world is a character in the film. if youre into lingering meaningful glances this film is for you. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/24/24 Full Review Mala M This is one of the most beautiful movies I have seen and it lingered with me. If you are a movie buff, its a not to be missed movie by a young promising director who will doubtless be directing more wonderful movies. Unlike Barbie, this is truly a womens movie which doesn't bash men like Barbie did. 3 wonderful women actors and 1 amazing woman director. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/06/24 Full Review Shoumo M The finest Indian film since Court. Exquisite poetic and humorous rendition of life of ordinary people in Mumbai. A beautiful story beautifully told. Scenes like Dadar market pre opening before sunrise , gathering clothes from a line as a storm picks up, Prabha’s pent up feelings pouring out embracing a cooker are masterpieces. Very much in the Ray-Benegal class . This film will be treated as a classic and a lesson for students of cinema. The economy of the shots , the crispness is very Rayesque. Kapadia leaves you wanting more . The love story moves ominously towards Sairat like tragedy until Kapadia with a master stroke delightfully turns to light. There is satisfying consummation. Stunning cinematography and use of music. Kapadia is a budding Bergman . She deserves support from our 337 billionaires. The film may not find as many fans as Pathan but taste for great art needs developing . Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/02/24 Full Review Gavin P Clumsy, slow indie movie which never gives you a reason to invest in its characters. As a result it's a long slow 120 minute sleeping pill. It's very sad the entire time, but a pointless kind of sadness from which one learns nothing. Has all the hallmarks of an ordinary student film or first film -- long, boring, and sad mistaken for profound when these are just lazy pretensions. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/01/24 Full Review Read all reviews
All We Imagine as Light

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut. Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital--head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha)--plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia's film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquility of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. All We Imagine as Light is a soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and sisterhood, in all its complexities and richness.
Director
Payal Kapadia
Screenwriter
Payal Kapadia
Distributor
Sideshow / Janus Films
Production Co
Chalk and Cheese, Another Birth, arte France Cinéma, Les Films Fauves, Pulpa Film, BALDR Film, Petit Chaos
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Malayalam
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 15, 2024, Limited
Runtime
1h 58m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.66:1)