By Steve Crum

There are surprises and revelations in Look Into My Eyes. But the quirky documentary about psychics has a couple of unanswered questions. Maybe we need a psychic to figure it all out? 

No crystal balls are used, but there are candles, dimly lit rooms and theatrics. Produced and directed by Lana Wilson, who has created four other documentaries, Look Into My Eyes is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a professional psychic. Make that seven psychics operating in New York City. The 108 minutes suggest they all function in their apartments—either in the same building or in close proximation. 

There is a scene, however, in which a psychic solicits readings outdoors. 

The people seeking the mediums are troubled and obsessed in communicating. If you are like me, curious about the monetary payment for each meeting, stay wanting. Fees are not mentioned on camera. It must be substantial since the psychics do not seem to have another job. (By the way, the apartments are anything but elaborate.) 

The central figures are not “fortune tellers.” These mediums share messages from departed spouses, friends, family members, and even pets. They tap into the the outer world of the deceased, and elicit both joy and tears. 

We witness the actual seance, the psychic’s connection with the client, the answered and unanswered questions, and tearful impacts. It seems real. Perhaps the most jarring exchange occurs when a client wants to know if his birth mother regrets having given him up when born. We can all empathize. 

Is everything we see in Look Into My Eyes true? Are we witnessing reality? My question is an ongoing one in our world of reality TV. For example, we know that a program like the super popular Survivor is unscripted, but it is all taped by several cameras. Participants realize they are on camera, even in supposed private conversations. Maybe everyone has learned to ignore a camera constantly focused on them. So goes the Eyes documentary. How can the psychic and client truthfully interact with one or two cameras obviously in the room? 

Half of Look Into My Eyes is devoted to the private lives of the psychics themselves, sans clientele. What makes a guy or gal become a psychic? Do they have anything in common with other psychics? (The seven regularly meet with each other in a therapy session to share common concerns, both professional and private.) One of the group is also shown at singing lessons. (He has a long way to go.)

These messengers are fraught with their own problems, insecurities, and histories. Yet they are driven to answer strangers’ queries due to their ability to connect. 

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. 

—————

GRADE on an A-F Scale: A-