By John Corrado

The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto

In her latest documentary Look Into My Eyes, Director Lana Wilson (Miss Americana) introduces us to a selection of New York City psychics as well as their clients. While psychics are usually thought to be the domain of scam artists with neon signs hanging in sketchy windows, Wilson looks a little closer to offer a poignant portrait of several mediums, and the people who seek out their services.

The film begins with a series of subjects mid-session, framed in the centre of the screen as if speaking to the camera. They unspool their trauma, seeking closure from someone who has passed on, or guidance around something in their life. Wilson then takes us into the cramped New York apartments where the psychics live, revealing more about them through the spaces they inhabit.

Many of them are avowed lovers of film and theatre (one man is a physical media collector, his tiny space crowded with CDs and DVDs), fitting for a profession that requires them to be both performance artists and therapists. In fact, several of them are struggling actors who felt called to the supernatural for a variety of reasons, and took up doing readings as a way to earn extra cash.

So do they really believe, or is this acting? Wilson doesn’t judge, but also suggests the artifice provides a real emotional experience, even if it is sometimes akin to a live performance. This could have made for a quirky human interest doc, but Wilson has sympathy for her subjects, including the clients who are looking for – and often find – some form of healing from their sessions.

In this way, Look Into My Eyes becomes a moving look at grief, and the power of having someone tell you that it’s okay to move on, even if it comes from someone you are paying to channel a deceased loved one. Working with cinematographer Stephen Maing, Wilson crafts a lovely portrait of New York City and all of its eccentricities. It’s a quiet, patient film (the lack of musical score allows moments of diegetic sound to have more of an impact), but one that becomes as emotionally cathartic an experience for viewers as these sessions are for the clients.

Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)

Look Into My Eyes screens as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.