Lady: A Powerful Story of Survival and Hope

Sundance Film Review: Lady
Director: Olive Nwosu
Osian International, Good Gate
Premiere: 01.22.2026

When paying surging prices for Lyft rides to get from one theater to another or waiting in long lines in the bitter cold, or even wondering if I caught a head cold from Haley Lu Richardson, the phrase “first world problems” came to mind a lot during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. This was especially true after seeing Lady, a sobering portrait of a young woman in Nigeria whose problems are much more immediate.

In the restless sprawl of Lagos, Lady (Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah, Purgatory) makes her living as one of the city’s rare female cab drivers, while supporting her grandmother and keeping emotional distance from everyone else around her. Lady’s efforts to keep her head down and go about her business are disrupted when Pinky (Amanda Oruh, Shadows), a childhood friend she hasn’t seen in years, reappears and is now moving through the city’s nightlife as a sex worker. Drawn back into Pinky’s orbit, Lady begins driving a tight-knit group of women whose late-night hustle is fueled by camaraderie, risk and defiant joy. As she ferries them across the city, Lady’s judgments soften, and her isolation gives way to a fragile sense of belonging. But the freedom she glimpses comes with real danger, forcing her to weigh safety against solidarity and survival against dreams.

Lady is a gripping story told with immediacy and compassion, tracing a quiet awakening and capturing how connection can both threaten and transform. The film is a quietly devastating portrait of survival, one that understands how endurance is built from pain as much as from hope. The film never romanticizes what its heroine has had to learn in order to keep going; every choice carries the weight of past wounds and present danger. Yet within that toughness lies a remarkable resilience, a refusal to disappear or harden completely. Trust becomes the film’s sharpest double-edged force — necessary for connection, but always shadowed by the risk of betrayal or loss. Each moment of openness feels earned and fragile, charged with the knowledge of how easily it can be taken away. By holding survival and vulnerability in constant tension, Lady captures the cost of staying alive in an unforgiving world and the quiet bravery required to believe, even briefly, in something more. Director Olive Nwosu, in her debut feature, favors realism over flourish, allowing the rhythms of Lagos and the textures of daily life to shape the narrative as much as the characters themselves. Her lens lingers on small gestures, fleeting expressions and the city’s chaotic energy, creating a world that feels lived-in and immediate. The result is a story that resonates long after the credits roll, a meditation on resilience, trust and the quiet acts of courage that define a life lived on the margins.

The performances are raw and authentic, and Ujah is a revelation as Lady, anchoring the film with both strength and vulnerability. She conveys a lifetime of guarded experience in the smallest gestures — a wary glance, a fleeting smile, a moment of hesitation behind the wheel — making her character feel fully lived-in and impossible to ignore. The supporting cast is impressive, with Oruh’s Pinky providing stark counterpoint to Lady’s particular brand of strength without ever passing judgment about her choices. Together, the ensemble creates a world that feels immediate and immersive, capturing the precariousness of survival and the rare, fleeting moments of joy and connection that make Lady’s journey so deeply affecting.

Lady isn’t easy viewing, which is exactly why it should be seen, and its director and star are highly talented women with potential for a bright future in cinema. Lady is the kind of movie that keeps popping back into your mind whether you want it to or not, and its honesty, fearlessness and sense of humanity are a sorely needed reminder of what it truly means to face adversity with determination and love. —Patrick Gibbs 

Read more of SLUG’s coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.