‘Look Into My Eyes’ Is About So Much More Than Whether Psychic Powers Exist

People have been debating the veracity of mediums/psychics and their claims to be clairvoyant as well as their abilities to communicate with the dead for eons. Some claim that these individuals are charlatans and thieves just preying on desperate and gullible people looking for some closure, while others swear by the sessions and find some catharsis in the process. In the new A24 documentary streaming on MAX called Look Into My Eyes, acclaimed independent filmmaker Lana Wilson (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Miss Americana) goes beyond the binary argument of whether these mediums are real or fake and makes a brilliant movie about something much more profound as it relates to the human condition and the things that unite us as opposed to dividing. She sets out to discover what we have in common, regardless of which side of the table you’re sitting on during a psychic reading, and asks the audience to withhold judgment on her subjects’ motivations.

What Is ‘Look Into My Eyes’ About?

Look Into My Eyes follows seven separate mediums based in the boroughs of New York City as they conduct psychic readings on several clients seeking answers from beyond the grave. Some seek to communicate with relatives who have passed on, while others seek knowledge about their living and dead pets. What Lana Wilson does so remarkably well that has never really been addressed when taking on the phenomenon of ESP is examining the soothsayers themselves and rooting out what led them to become mediums and psychic “healers” to begin with.

What we find out over the course of the roughly two-hour runtime is that these individuals are mostly just as broken and searching for answers as the customers that have sought them out. Each of the psychics in the documentary has a history fraught with depression, a dysfunctional childhood, closeted sexualities, the loss of loved ones, and other issues that cause them a great deal of pain and vulnerability. For the first time, Wilson has made a documentary about psychic mediums that frames her subjects as utterly relatable people who are genuinely trying to help people deal with trauma and, by extension, find out more about themselves.

Lana Wilson’s ‘Look Into My Eyes’ Examines the Pain That Unites Us

Most of the documentaries one may see about psychic phenomena or claims that people have special abilities paint a picture of an opportunist looking to bilk people out of their hard-earned cash. However, what viewers will see when they watch Look Into My Eyes is raw and unexpected honesty. The psychics that are profiled are all victims of trauma themselves and are very open and honest about why they do what they do. For the first time, audiences may see these people, eccentric and kooky as they may come across, as genuine people trying to guide people through the trauma that has led them to be across the table from them.

The result is a common understanding that these mediums are not out to exploit naive people but rather empathize with those who have been through just as much trauma in their own lives. In fact, like the people that they read, most of them are all aspiring to do greater things in life and are moonlighting as psychics while they pursue writing and acting careers or other jobs in the performing arts. And while Wilson questions some of them regarding the validity of the feelings and information her subjects claim to be spiritually specific, she never makes her film about whether it should be believed. These are broken people looking to build a bridge and assist others in pain for one reason or another; it’s a unique angle on the subject and well worth your time as a viewer.

Look Into My Eyes is currently available to stream on MAX in the U.S.