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In this update from Nigerian brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri of Virginia Woolf’s classic novel Mrs. Dalloway, London is recast as Lagos, but its titular heroine (Sophie Okonedo) is still buying flowers herself for the evening’s big party. She’ll see old friends, all of whom are in a reflective mood, struggling with adulthood and the passing of time. As in the novel, perspective is handed off between characters within a scene, prompting flashbacks, reflections, and revelations on events both past and present. With the horrors of World War I now replaced by military action against the Jihadist militants of Boko Haram, larissa feels at ease in its new environs. The strong cast features David Oyelowo (Selma), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), and Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation), but it’s Okonedo, who also shines in the festival-closing Mouse, that anchors this mesmeric film about people trying to make peace with the past. Some, it turns out, do it better than others. ~SM