SummaryAt the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina – former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions – struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots... Read More
Directed By:Julie Dash
Written By:Julie Dash
Daughters of the Dust
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
81
User score
Generally Favorable
7.7
My Score
Drag or tap to give a rating
Hover and click to give a rating
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
81
94% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
6% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
"Daughters" has a gorgeous, overwhelming sense of place. It is almost startlingly beautiful, blessed with deep fiery hues and a poetic sensibility. It is a film made stronger by its belief in itself, and it challenges its audience to believe also.... But because "Daughters" is so gloriously textured, its rewards are many. [20 Mar 1992, p.30]
90
Daughters of the Dust abounds with stunning motifs and tableaux, the iconography seemingly sourced from dreams as much as from history and folklore. But however seductive and trance-inducing, the visual splendor of Dash's film is never vaporous.
88
Daughters of the Dust is hypnotic, flowing with the trance-like rhythms of a poem that is beautifully written yet deliberately arcane. It's the cinematic equivalent of the voices you hear in the fiction of Toni Morrison or Alice Walker, but without the connecting narrative thread that most novels possess and most movies imitate. The result is a difficult work, yet a haunting one. [29 May 1992]
80
For all its harsh allusions to slavery and hardship, the film is an extended, wildly lyrical meditation on the power of African cultural iconography and the spiritual resilience of the generations of women who have been its custodians.
78
Neither slave nor mammy, junkie nor maid, these dawn-of-the-twentieth century African-American women are an unstereotypical breed unto themselves.
75
Throughout the film, cinematographer Arthur Jafa brings in lovely, imaginative photography, showing a remarkable eye for light and composition, while Dash provides crisp, sensitive direction in putting together a moving work about a simple but proud people immersed in a distinct culture and ritual as they try to "touch their own spirits."
50
Writer/director Julie Dash pours on sounds, music and costuming for a tone more impressionistic than dramatic - and more somnambulant than either. She might have gotten away with it for 80 minutes, but merciless Dust closes in on the two-hour mark, a structural shambles in the too-earnest American Playhouse tradition. [1 April 1992, p.6D]
User score
Generally Favorable
7.7
78% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
11% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
11% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Dec 24, 2017
10
One of the best movies I've seen in a long time, such a incisive, ghostly, haunting view of Black womanhood, what it means to stay in a place of violence, repopulate it with love, what it means to leave that very place.
Sep 2, 2024
7
An incomparable, kaleidoscopic fever dream. Beautiful imagery. The pace may be languid for some, but patience is worth it to fully enjoy this immersive movie. It's rare that the Gullah culture of the Mid-Atlantic coast is portrayed on-screen at all, let alone with such care and intricacy. The movie is narrated by an unborn child (no, really), and portrays the family relations, trials, and joys of a multi-generational clan of Gullah people. It's slow at times. And, mysterious and impenetrable in a challenging way. Has one of the best sex scenes put on film. A moving celebration of life, love, and spirituality.
Production Company:
- Geechee Girls
- American Playhouse
- WMG Film
Release Date:Dec 27, 1991
Duration:1 h 52 m
Rating:TV-PG
Awards
Sundance Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
