Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Nicole Beharie, Alexis Chikaeze, Kendrick Sampson
Intro:
Miss Juneteeth isn’t just a timely story, it’s a touchingly hopeful one, too.
The Juneteenth holiday commemorates June 19th, 1865, the day when slaves in Texas were finally freed – more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that put an end to slavery in America. It was, and still is, a cause for celebration.
Since winning the Miss Juneteenth scholarship pageant when she was just a teenager, the life of Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie) has been filled with struggle. An unplanned pregnancy led to a series of low-income jobs around Fort Worth, Texas, with little support from her estranged partner, auto-mechanic Ronnie (Kendrick Sampson), or her evangelical alcoholic mother, Charlotte (Lori Hayes).
Turquoise feels like she squandered a golden opportunity and is determined that her daughter, Kai (Alexis Chikaeze), won’t follow her path. In an effort to secure her future, she enrols the 14-year-old girl in the same pageant and tries to discourage Kai’s interests in boys and the school’s dance crew.
The dynamic between the two becomes fraught with tension as the pageant date looms closer. Kai has to separate her identity from her mother’s good intentions and Turquoise has to come to terms with her past and find a new direction for her ambitions.
First-time writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples’ film is a slice-of-life which moves at a pace that some audience members might find too lackadaisical, as we peek in on Turquoise’s routine and amble towards the climactic pageant.
Shot by cinematographer Daniel Patterson, the city of Fort Worth is a character unto itself – locations like the dingy BBQ joint and the family-run mortuary where Turquoise works part-time are both packed with messy little background details. Populated by equally textured supporting characters, Miss Juneteeth drips with authenticity and quickly embeds you within a community of people struggling to pay the bills and achieve some measure of personal freedom.
Thematically, Peoples’ story covers a lot of ground, exploring Southern Black culture and class divisions. However, at the heart of it all is the powerful bond between a mother and her daughter. The film benefits from a strong cast, particularly Nicole Beharie (Little Fires Everywhere) playing the hard-working, resilient single mum. As she negotiates various obstacles in her path, like financial troubles and unwanted suitors, Beharie communicates volumes of emotional depth through her expressive face and body language.
Released in a year filled with protests about systemic racism and the difficulties faced by African-Americans, Miss Juneteeth isn’t just a timely story, it’s a touchingly hopeful one, too.
