Payal Kapadia’s drama of women’s solidarity, a major prize-winner at Cannes, pays radiant homage to a city and its people.

C alling any given city a “character” in a movie set in it has become a haggard critical cliché, but “All We Imagine as Light” depicts Mumbai with such vivid and poetic s

“All We Imagine as Light,” in theaters Friday, has been widely celebrated since its Cannes premiere, and Kapadia heralded as a major new talent to watch, which is just as it should be. The film is a reminder of the transcendent power of cinema, even, and perhaps especially, when not all that much is happening.