All We Imagine as Light Movie Review

I want to be sophisticated. Hell, I’d be okay with appearing as sophisticated. And yet movies such as All We Imagine as Light come along, charged with Oscar buzz, decorated with the Cannes Grand Prize, and boasting a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating that make me question my life and all that matters in the world.

I should have known if I had read the official synopsis of the movie, which explains that the movie, written and directed by Payal Kapadia, tells its story “with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence.” I don’t even know what the hell that means, though as a marketing executive by day I can translate it as marketing-speak to mean “boring as f**k.”

All We Imagine as Light, which follows a group of regular people–most notably two nurses/roommates (played by Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha)–as they chart their lives through Mumbai, just doesn’t have much going for it.

The movie, intentionally though oddly, looks like a documentary, the natural photography offputting for a feature-length fiction film. It looks cheap. Wherever that dreamlike incandescence was, it had seeped away before I hit the “play” button. The stilted acting didn’t exactly draw me into the experience, either; these aren’t exactly Oscar-grade performances on display. 

But more importantly, All We Imagine as Light is the kind of movie that just isn’t for me (and if you follow my reviews, probably not for you either). Clearly other critics have found something to latch onto here, but everything about this production makes each minute more grueling than the last. 

I want to be sophisticated. Hell, I’d be okay with appearing as sophisticated. But if that means praising an award-winning movie like All We Imagine as Light, no thanks.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.