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.