Directed by Idris Elba, Dust to Dreams has more heart than narrative precision, which is exactly what I would hope for in such a complex story. The story begins with Millicent (Nse Ikpe-Etim), the owner of a vibrant nightclub in Lagos. She is ill and reaching the end of her life as she contemplates who to leave her legacy to. While her older daughters have been living abroad and wish to sell the club, it is her youngest daughter, Bisi (Constance Olatunde), who she feels embodies the essence of her life’s work and possesses the talent and passion to keep the club alive.
As Bisi is faced with a huge responsibility and faces tension amongst her siblings, her estranged father, Johnson (Seal), returns, which should create some tension as he is the supposed absent father of all the girls. However, that is not how the story progresses; Bisi and Johnson connect over their love for music and performance and in the final moments of her life, Millicent gets to witness her legacy live on through the connection of the two of them.
The story, although undeveloped with many of its characters, is about placing love and family above all forms of animosity and boldly states that prioritizing profit over a family’s legacy is flat-out wrong. I would have loved to have seen the Millicents’ other daughters find some reconciliation instead of being positioned as the antagonists of the story, but I also understand why Elba wanted to maintain the film’s central message.
Ultimately, I enjoyed watching this story unfold and getting a snapshot of the cultural landscape that Lagos has to offer.
Dust to Dreams is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
