Female Film Critics 24/375
Indian writer-director Payal Kapadia’s acclaimed fiction-feature debut film All We Imagine as Light will be released July 22 on Blu-ray and DVD as part of The Criterion Collection.
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Three very different women living in crowded but sometimes-isolating modern-day Mumbai navigate work, relationships, and social norms in writer/director Payal Kapadia’s understated but powerful drama All We Imagine as Light. Winner of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prize, Kapadia’s second feature is a compelling mix of beautifully observed reality and poignant magical realism that boasts excellent performances by its three female leads. Thoughtful, relatable, and full of meaning, All We Imagine as Light is an excellent example of what “female-forward filmmaking” really looks like.
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Payal Kapadia’s second feature All We Imagine as Light is a suitably vibrant portrait of the city of Mumbai. Settling quickly on a trio of women, the film opens with a broad perspective, showing images of the bustling city set to voice-overs of its various inhabitants. Many people move to Mumbai for work, resulting in a hybrid population of different backgrounds and even nationalities. Kapadia is deeply interested in women’s struggles, surrounding the story of her main trio of characters with supporting anecdotes. Kapadia avoids wrapping up her criss-crossing plots in a neat bow, keeping her film admirably true to life. Friendship, however, (especially among women) can serve as a healing force, and All We Imagine as Light depicts that salve beautifully.
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Girls Will Be Girls isn’t the first movie to tackle the complexities of growing up, and it certainly won’t be the last. But writer/director Shuchi Talati approaches the ultra-relatable subject matter with such a delicate touch that it makes her story of a teen coming of age in 1990s India feel fresh and new. Simultaneously, it comments thoughtfully on the policing of girls and women who dare to flout convention and express themselves.
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Girls will be Girls is Indian director Shuchi Talati’s narrative feature about Mira, a smart but naive teenage girl who is trying to figure out what being a woman is all about. The film follows the tremendous turmoil in the emotional life of this ‘everygirl’ as she tries to balance the expectations everyone has for her with her own curiosity and eagerness to explore her body and understand the role she is to play as she enters adulthood. There’s good story aplenty here and the performances are excellent — and, although the film is Indian in origin and reflects Indian culture, Girls will be Girls is universally relatable.
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At the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival, Indian director Payal Kapadia etched her name for eternity in the annals of cinema history by winning the ‘Grand Prix.’ Kapadia’s debut feature All We Imagine As Light, was singled out among 22 entries. Her contenders included Andrea Arnold, Francis Ford Coppola, Jia Zhange-Ke, Paolo Sorrentino, Sean Baker, and Ali Abbasi. Kapadia is the first Indian woman filmmaker to win the coveted prize. No other Indian director had ever competed for the honour nor bagged it. Thirty years ago, Malayalam director Shaji N Karun’s Swaham‘ qualified at Cannes for the competition category in 1994. Kapadia’s magic moment happened when AWIAL received a standing ovation for eight long minutes after its Cannes premiere.
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