‘All We Imagine as Light’ Movie Review [AFI Fest 2024]: A Slow-Building, Delicate Portrait Of Cosmopolitan Dreams

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From Jeff Nelson

All We Imagine as Light is the first Indian film to screen in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years, and it won the Grand Prize. It’s the type of frank, meditative storytelling that sneaks up on you by the time the credits roll. Payal Kapadia’s sophomore effort requires patience, but the story finds its way to an affecting destination.

Set in Mumbai, a trio of nurses struggles to assimilate into the bustling city life and societal expectations. Their respective pasts rise into the present and cause them to reflect on the worlds they left behind at their points of origin.

Kapadia’s narrative is hair thin, although the subtleties pack far more density with its interwoven characterizations. Nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) reflects on the past when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu (Divya Prabha), seeks a future with her secret boyfriend (Hridhu Haroon) without her family’s judgment. Finally, Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) deals with a housing conflict at the hands of a rapidly gentrified city after her husband’s death.

Each woman chases the same dream of success in the crowded city, although they’re unable to shake the ties that connect them to homes that hold varying meanings. For Prabha, it’s a reminder of a lack of intimacy she so desperately longs for. In Anu’s case, it’s a lack of agency. Meanwhile, Parvaty’s home is a distant memory after living in Mumbai for two decades. They’re each at the mercy of another’s power, whether it be a distant husband, traditional parents, or the law. 

There is no central character in All We Imagine as Light. Kapadia takes the time to approach each woman’s story with love and care. They come to realizations without necessarily exploring narrative resolutions. The trio forms a chosen family of sorts that cross cultural and generational lines. There isn’t a lot of action that propels their stories. It opts for a social study embedded in the shared world of three nurses.

This triad of performances are grounded with a sense of realism that further envelopes the audience into their experiences. Kusruti, Prabha, and Kadam are skillful actors who understand the delicacy of Kapadia’s screenplay. The tenderness is captured to the fullest extent possible thanks to a gorgeous jazz-fueled score by Dhritiman Das (aka Topshe).

All We Imagine as Light beams with vulnerability and empathy, pondering whether its cosmopolitan vision is one made up of dreams or illusions. Kapadia’s filmmaking is deft at capturing this metropolitan setting, navigating three varying perspectives with a loving touch. The loose narrative is a slow-burn, meandering for too long in certain spots and diminishing the emotional impact. Even so, patience is rewarded with a touching and fittingly soft conclusion.

Rating: 3.5/5

All We Imagine as Light played at AFI Fest 2024 on October 24th, 2024. It hits theaters on November 15th, 2024.

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