THE STORY – A group of New York City psychics conducts deeply intimate readings for their clients, revealing a kaleidoscope of loneliness and connection, joy and eccentricity, pain and healing.
THE CAST – N/A
THE TEAM – Lana Wilson (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 108 Minutes
We start Lana Wilson’s “Look Into My Eyes” with various subjects sitting before a camera, preparing to pour their hearts out like a therapy session. For the next few minutes, the camera remains steady as audiences listen to real-life New Yorkers delving into issues that appear to be pressing on their mind or hearts substantially. Viewers notice each interviewee’s testimonial is completely different, yet the same interjection is heard to be made by someone off-camera. “Who would you like to communicate with today?” At that moment, the whiplash hits viewers, and these interviewees aren’t sitting with a therapist; they’re sitting with a psychic. It’s from that opening on that “Look Into My Eyes” has you in a trance.
When we think of psychics, we think of the typical trademarks such as an odd person wearing a bandana and beads surrounded by candles, crystals, and other forms of token items. It’s not an entirely incorrect stereotype, but filmmaker Lana Wilson is unafraid to look beyond that. “Look Into My Eyes” instantly tries to dispel this stigma by showing psychics as everyday working people. The documentary focuses on a select handful of New York-based psychics who are just trying to get through the day. Each personality is so vastly different, but the similarities that connect them all speak volumes. Audiences follow these mediums through an unspecified period, seeing what inspired them to get into this field, the dreams that never materialized for them, and the trauma they are suffering from. Wilson constructs the film by blending a variety of testimonials and the psychic’s sessions (the good and the bad). Most of these personalities are magnetitic in some shape or form. It’s easy to see how their presence easily wins over customers. Of course, that doesn’t always remain as airtight, as we do see moments where these psychics struggle to read their clients.
Admittedly, with the number of subjects Wilson chooses to dissect in “Look Into My Eyes,” some fall to the wayside as certain personalities become more focal throughout the film. Understandably, Wilson tries to balance it out, attempting to give each psychic an equal platform, yet doesn’t always land successfully. That being said, those who do get pushed to the wayside return in an incredibly profound way. For example, one of the first psychics we follow returns closer to the end of the film with a proud sequence involving a high school reunion of sorts. Wilson taps into an endless well of emotions that never come off as ingenuine and even makes the strongest skeptic elicit some type of response.
The greatest strength of “Look Into My Eyes” is Wilson’s nuanced dissection into the practice of psychics as a whole. How much of this truly is an exercise of faith, or can these individuals communicate with those who have passed? Many find the idea of psychics to be ridiculous and just con artists preying on people and their traumas. Wilson doesn’t entirely approach this subject as a whole-hearted believer. She challenges these subjects with an unbiased skepticism that lesser filmmakers would’ve approached far more antagonistically. The way Wilson likens their work to performance art is a fascinating and unexpected core aspect of the film. Multiple subjects have some significant association with the arts that profoundly led them to become psychics. One psychic, who primarily focuses her practice on animals, once wanted to be an actress. She escaped the pain in her life by bringing films and even emphasized the impact a filmmaker like John Waters has had on her life. Another psychic talks about how his love for cinema helped him cope with the loss of his brother and goes heavily into his aspirations to be a screenwriter. There’s sympathy awarded to these subjects because, first and foremost, Wilson sees them as humans.
By the time you get to the end of “Look Into My Eyes,” it clicks for those who believe and even those who don’t. Is the film supposed to sway you into believing that everything they do is remotely legitimate? Does it even matter? A far less refined documentary would’ve been settled on debunking the practice. Your personal feelings towards psychics may not waiver very much, but seeing the profound impact left upon the clients is noticeable. Not only have the clients’ lives changed through this work, but so have the psychics. Wilson brilliantly captures this profound exchange of purpose and healing. It’s what makes “Look Into My Eyes” such a soul-stirring documentary, one that can even affect the strongest skeptic.
