“Look Into My Eyes”

“Look Into My Eyes” offers a deeply intimate glimpse into the world of New York City psychics and their clients, and it’s not what you expect. Instead of offering a judgment on the reality of paranormal abilities, director Lana Wilson presents a nuanced exploration of human emotions like grief, loneliness, and the need for connection. This is a story of spiritual practices and how they complement the deepest emotional spaces where people search for comfort, healing, and closure.

The film consists of a compilation of interviews that create a tapestry of singular moments and personal stories. There are clients seeking to communicate with deceased loved ones and psychics right beside them to offer guidance and reassurance. As I watched people ask questions like, “is my dead grandma happy I came out as gay?” or “what were my birth parents like?,” it made me sad because I’ve always thought of psychics as people who prey on the grieving. While this film did little to change my mind, it did open my eyes to the need for answers that these vulnerable people seek through the great beyond. At least these psychics serve as empathetic listeners for those with unhealed wounds, even if their claimed abilities are less than authentic.

What frustrated me about the film is also what is so effective about it, and that’s Wilson’s refusal to fall into cynicism or blind faith. It doesn’t position the psychics as charlatans preying on the emotionally fragile, nor does it attempt to validate their powers. Instead, the film focuses on the therapeutic nature of these readings.

Much like a therapy session, psychic readings here become opportunities for people to confront grief, loss, and uncertainty. The psychics serve as emotional guides, not magical prophets, giving viewers a sense that the process is less about the paranormal and more about empathy and support.

Placing an emphasis on human connection, “Look Into My Eyes” shows how psychic sessions can become a kind of emotional release for feelings of fear, trauma, and hope. The answers clients seek may be uncertain, but psychics provide a comforting blanket for unprocessed grief and unresolved trauma in this intimate look at the ways humans cope with loss.

By: Louisa Moore