The biggest question I had while watching the film was how these psychics (some of whom had pretty nice apartments with great views) could afford the astronomical rent of New York City by merely doing readings. That question was never answered. The documentary also struggles, in my opinion, in showing the imperative of learning and caring about the features psychics in the first place.
Biased Going In
I suppose I was a bit biased going into the film, because I don’t believe in psychics. I feel they’re actors and improv artists, no different from performers on “Who’s Line is it Anyway?—but instead of doing improv for laughs, the psychics improv in order to keep the client on the hook, reacting to what they say, and feeding them tidbits of information back to give the illusion that what they say has weight. However, I tried to keep an open mind, and was genuinely hoping the film might give me insights that would change my view of psychics and their world.
The most striking (but not unexpected) aspect of the documentary is that nearly all of the featured psychics are aspiring actors or musicians. Halfway through the film, we see one of them sitting in front of his laptop, reviewing a script and practicing line readings in preparation for an audition. Honestly, it would have been more interesting to watch this guy pursue an acting career rather than watch him do readings with clients where he sits with his eyes closed, saying leading verbiage like “I see someone in a red coat, does that mean anything to you?”
The only psychic that stood out amidst the group was Phoebe, an “animal communicator” who can supposedly talk with clients’ living or deceased animals and get answers to questions the clients have about them. Phoebe, unlike the other psychics, has no desire to become an actor or musician and doesn’t want fame. She’s a huge John Waters fan and yes, that endeared me to her instantly. How can you not appreciate someone who loves John Waters?
Some Quality Aspects
Her background was fascinating, raised in a single-parent household by a womanizing alcoholic father. He was a man that loved women but not his own daughter, many times leaving her home alone for days while out on a drinking and carousing binge.
Once the film shows her meeting with clients and reading their pets, the film lost me a bit. People’s lives are interesting and the film would have been richer had it just briefly touched upon Phoebe’s psychic skills and spent more time on her life and what brought her to this point.
Parallels to other Professions
The only other part of the film I found interesting was towards the end, when each of the psychics talk about who they go to when they have something troubling them and need to talk to someone. It’s at this point you realize psychics are just a variation on a priest or a less-learned psychiatrist, someone who others come to when they need to talk and unburden themselves in a receptive environment. They carry the weight of others’ problems but have few people with whom they can talk to themselves.
Overall, the film is lackluster, but (closing my eyes and going into a trance) I see one of the psychics starring in a rom-com in a couple of years, and they’re wearing a red coat in it.
