A visual and aural feast.
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The Cannes Film Festival 2024 Grand Prix recipient is a rare gem that’s reached Singapore.
Jazzy piano, breathtaking imagery, and a trio of stunning performances, Payal Kapadia’s sophomore feature and her first full-length narrative film is an instant favourite of the year for this writer as soon as the credits rolled.
All We Imagine as Light trails Prabha (Kani Kusruti), a dedicated nurse in a Mumbai hospital who’s grappling with her fragile marriage and estranged husband, and her younger roommate Anu (Divya Prabha), a passionate youth who struggles to find a haven for herself and her boyfriend in the city, as both women set themselves free on a getaway to a rural beach town.
Kapadia’s patience and tenderness in telling their stories is a treat to us audiences. Oftentimes, tales of women with similar challenges develop into confrontational melodramas and fail to explore their character journeys beyond a superficial level. All We Imagine as Light perfectly accomplished the opposite.
There is equal depiction of both Prabha and Anu’s vulnerability in this film, without reducing their characters to just that. Kusruti’s restrained but impactful portrayal of Prabha is touching, and speaks to the loneliness of numerous people like her. Anu’s character, which is no less emotional, is more audacious and easily the one that audiences root for.
Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), a cook in the hospital Prabha and Anu work at and also the reason for their getaway to the rural beach town, has her fair share of troubles in this film and is a scene stealer. Kadam’s magnetic performance as the headstrong tenant of a chawl in Mumbai getting chased out by a powerful builder, left me wanting more of her.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Kapadia in this film is her impeccable pacing. At almost two hours, the film shows no sign of dragging yet manages to offer both breadth and depth. The documentarian has certainly successfully expanded her craft and we should all look forward to her upcoming projects.
All We Imagine as Light is a visual and aural feast. Well balanced with the bustling atmosphere of Mumbai, the natural beauty of Ratnagiri coast and a comforting tone in its score, which in my view is one of this year’s most underrated, this film is a gorgeous work of art with a lot of heart.
Catch it exclusively at The Projector from 14 November onwards!
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