Look Into My Eyes

What will likely make “Look Into My Eyes” emotionally moving and surprisingly so is Ms. Wilson’s approach to her subjects. She captures them in a strictly observational and almost clinical fashion.

Whether or not you believe these psychics are communing with the dead—or, in one case, with the spirits of still-living animals—the interactions with their clients feel genuinely emotional in a way that is hard to dismiss entirely.

Human connections are gifts, imagination is powerful and empathy isn’t a trick. These are the things “Look Into My Eyes” patiently communicates to us from its watchful perch.

The emotional connections are frequently profound, intimate and, like the film itself, compelling.

In the end, “Look Into My Eyes” might not convert any doubters, but it certainly establishes that not everything can be explained in a traditional, linear fashion.

Lana Wilson’s documentary about psychics in New York City is a simple film: it interviews and follows a group of psychics, while recording psychic readings with their real-life clients.

Director Lana Wilson captures the isolationism of the psyche as it plays out in Hannah Buck’s spot on editing. The film is reminiscent of the style of documentarian Frederick Wiseman, and that is great praise.

Look Into My Eyes is challenging on multiple fronts – and fascinating too.

Placing an emphasis on human connection, the documentary shows how psychic sessions can become a kind of emotional release for unprocessed grief and trauma.

Look into My Eyes won’t convince anyone of anything. But the film does suggest that psychic readings may provide emotional benefits for both parties, irregardless of any paranormal implications. Maybe we’re looking at it all wrong. It’s therapy.