Calling any given city a “character” in a movie set in it has become a haggard critical cliché, but “All We Imagine as Light” depicts Mumbai with such vivid and poetic specificity that the term is tempting. The film begins with footage of the ...

“All We Imagine as Light,” in theaters Friday, has been widely celebrated since its Cannes premiere, and Kapadia heralded as a major new talent to watch, which is just as it should be. The film is a reminder of the transcendent power of cinema, even, and perhaps especially, when not all that much is happening.

Payal Kapadia’s drama of women’s solidarity, a major prize-winner at Cannes, pays radiant homage to a city and its people.

This week’s movie releases include Red One, The World According to Allee Willis, All We Imagine as Light, and Hot Frosty.

The rhythms of bustling, working-class Mumbai are brought to vivid life in “All We Imagine as Light.” The stunning narrative debut of filmmaker Payal Kapadia explores the lives of three women in the city whose existence is mostly transit and work.