Miss Juneteenth

Starring: Nicole Beharie, Alexis Chikaeze, Kendrick Sampson, Liz Mikel, Jaime Matthis, Marcus M. Mauldin, Akron Watson
Directed by: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Rating: Unrated
Genre: Drama
2020

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A former beauty queen (Nicole Beharie) pressures her daughter (Alexis Chikaeze) tof follow in her footsteps in the hope of launching her to a better life.

Review:

Tim: We need more movies like Channing Godfrey Peoples' Miss Juneteenth. It gives us a look at a single mother, struggling to build a better future for her daughter in Texas. It allows us to better understand black culture, a needed focus in 2020, when far too many Americans couldn't describe what Juneteenth is. At it's heart, though, this is a human story, about fallible characters working to overcome odds. It's about hope that the future will be better than the past. It's a good movie that is worth seeing.

One aspect of the film that struck me is how many obstacles our main character, Turquoise, faces. She has a clear path in her life- push her daughter to follow in her footsteps, become Miss Juneteenth and ride that momentum to a better life. Her vision is clear and she's willing to work as hard as she needs to, in order to achieve that dream. She's willing to sacrifice nearly everything. And yet, even with her enthusiasm, energy, and relentless determination, it's difficult. Scraping together enough money for a dress is a challenge when life throws continuous challenges in front of her. The margins of error are so small, hard work isn't enough. You need to also get extraordinarily lucky. And, for so many people in this economic situation around the work, your luck simply doesn't hold. I thought the film put a face and humanity on the idea that poorer people "just need to work harder". That's such an elitist, convenient response to a complex and heartbreaking issue. The story did a fantastic job of allowing us to step into this woman's life.

One thing that Peoples did exceptionally well was have all these moments where his main character had blind spots. As the film progresses, there's things the audience sees that our main character either can't, or won't. That feels increasingly tragic as the movie progresses and it helps build emotional resonance with the protagonist. That's a small thing that made this movie more effective.

It helps that we get an absolutely wonderful performance by Nicole Beharie. I've seen her in a few films previously, but nothing noteworthy. That wasn't the case here. Beharie is the heart and soul of this movie and paints Turquoise as this fascinating, complex, semi-tragic figure. I loved what she did with the character. She pours so much of her own humanity into the role, you believe her performance every second of the film. It feels lived in and memorable. I'll be writing Beharie's name many times in the future, this performance is too good to go unnoticed. I thought Alexis Chikaeze did well, too. There's a few scenes where her inexperience hurts- she tends to come across as a bit wooden. There are other moments, though, where you marvel at what she's doing on screen. With more experience, she could do impressive things. Kendrick Sampson added a great supporting performance. Sampson feels like such an underrated actor. He has superb talent and he absolutely makes this movie better. The whole cast works well here.

Another aspect of this film I appreciated is that while the film can be hard to watch at times, Peoples isn't out to tell a brutal story. She tells a real story- and reality is often ugly. But, every scene is filled with love and hope and I left this movie feeling uplifted more than anything else. How Peoples walks this tightrope is fairly effective.

Now, while I'm giving Peoples a lot of deserved praise, it should be noted that this is her feature film debut (after two short films). It's an impressive debut, but without knowing that, I felt fairly certain it was her first or second film. Experience is so critical in cinema and Peoples just needs more of it. The film is absolutely good, but there's a way to make the highs feel higher and the lows feel lower and she doesn't quite accomplish that here. The whole movie moves along in a tight band. I was never bored, but my heart never really ached for these characters. I didn't get emotionally invested enough. I think that will come for her- this debut film is certainly better than a lot of first-time directors. It's a solid, effective movie that has a powerful message and opens our eyes- all the things films are capable of doing. I'd highly recommend Miss Juneteenth even though it at times feels repetitive and Peoples can't quite pull out the full range of emotions she needed to. A good movie is a good movie, though, and this is one to celebrate.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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