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All We Imagine as Light

1h 55m Drama List
100% Tomatometer 48 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 Verified 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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Critics Reviews

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Ben Croll TheWrap Taking place almost entirely at night, the film’s Mumbai first-half swings to a jazzy piano score, finding squalor and grandeur as two sides of the same coin. Aug 8, 2024 Full Review Namrata Joshi The New Indian Express ...a meditative, almost spiritual evocation of the human condition at large... Rated: 4/5 Jul 10, 2024 Full Review Robert Daniels RogerEbert.com The courageousness of “All We Imagine As Light” doesn’t feel like a second film. It already stands as an early majestic masterwork, told with incredible control and uncommon force of will. Jul 2, 2024 Full Review Clotilde Chinnici Loud and Clear Reviews This film establishes Kapadia’s place as an exciting and visionary filmmaker in the future of Indian cinema. It also simultaneously solidifies what this future might look like outside of the typical image we have of filmmaking in India Rated: 4/5 Sep 14, 2024 Full Review Natalia Keogan Paste Magazine Touching upon (but never proselytizing about) matters of misogyny, religion, caste and gentrification, All We Imagine as Light exudes unwavering naturalism. Rated: 8.6/10 Sep 11, 2024 Full Review Akash Singh AwardsWatch All We Imagine has a sharp structure at its foundation that doesn’t rely on plot. Rather, it trusts the audience to form their own bonds with these women and their journeys in a rapidly metamorphosing society. Rated: A Sep 9, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews
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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
Les Films Fauves, BALDR Film, Petit Chaos, arte France Cinéma, Pulpa Film, Chalk and Cheese, Another Birth
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Malayalam
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 15, 2024, Limited
Runtime
1h 55m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.66:1)