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All We Imagine as Light Movie Review

All We Imagine as Light is a 2024 drama film directed by Payal Kapadia and starring Kani Kusruti. It’s a film that I respect more than I like.

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In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. This movie was famously not submitted for the foreign Oscar by India, which led to an outcry in the industry. It’s such a renowned film that I have to say that it disappointed me quite a bit. I respect the filmmaker and what she was trying to do, but it simply failed to resonate with me as a viewer.

This is the type of film that will undoubtedly stand the test of time. While watching it I instantly felt the sense of timeless feel to its visuals and story that will age like fine wine. In that way it’s the most artistic and universal film of the entire year. But in trying to be so artistic, the director lost sense of the story and characterization, which both felt immensely slight to me.

Divya Prabha did a very good job in the role of Anu while Kani Kusruti was especially strong in the role of Prabha. The actresses elevated their roles, but only to a degree as they were not all that well written at all. I needed to learn more about them, which never happened sadly. The same goes for the overall script. Yes, it explores loneliness, yearning and the harsh realities of living in a big city, but those themes are only touched upon slightly without ever being fully explored. The movie has a very light touch throughout for better and for worse. It would have benefited from a stronger sense of purpose.

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All We Imagine as Light signals the arrival of Payal Kapadia, who here delivered strong work. Her writing is not great at all, but I appreciated her directing skills as she imbued the movie with numerous superb cinematic qualities ranging from phenomenal cinematography, a beautifully tender score and a tone that is both pensive and deeply romantic at times. It’s a living in the city, slice-of-life tale that features a striking use of different colors and sounds to tell the story, but it simply failed to get to me on an emotional level, especially due to its very slow pace.