'Miss Juneteenth' Review: Nicole Beharie makes an impeccably timed feature even better with her quiet anguish
Spoilers for 'Miss Juneteenth'
Exactly 155 years ago, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Texas were finally free. Christened Juneteenth, over the years, June 19, 1865, would go on to become one of the most celebrated days of remembrance for the African-Americans, so what better time to premiere Channing Godfrey Peoples' impeccably named indie drama 'Miss Juneteenth' than now. As the entire planet comes together fighting racism, bias, prejudice and police brutality still prevalent concerning the minority, writer and director Peoples' debut feature venture comes filled with teenage rebellion and earnest attempts at righting a past gone wrong. Surrounding the day of commemoration, and weaving a story around the day's celebratory annual pageant, People's story sees a mother wise beyond her years, trying to live vicariously through a teenage daughter who just wants to be her own person.
We meet Turquoise Jones (Nicole Beharie) at the onset of the 100-minute story; the former Miss Juneteenth can be seen scrubbing toilets at a bar and BBQ joint, which is a second job she's taken up to pay for patent fees when her pay from being a cosmetician at a funeral home fails to suffice. Turquoise life is everything one would imagine someone who peaked too early to be. Almost everyone around her is either too raucous about her glorious past, or too snarky about what life went on to be for her. Wise beyond her age and calculated in her expectations, Turquoise's life is made tumultuous by trying to make ends meet, and a rebellious 15-year-old daughter Kai (Alexis Chikaeze), who would rather join the school's dance club and spend time with her beau than indulge in silly pageantry.
But to Turquoise none of this is silly. When not conflicted over how to quit getting roped back into Kai's father, and her on-and-off romantic interest Ronnie (Kendrick Sampson), Turquoise invests her time and effort into ensuring her daughter wins. There's a carnal hope in how desperately Turquoise holds on to the long evaporated dream, but the pageant's winning prize is a fully paid scholarship to a black university and that drives her forward, even if it doesn't make sense to anybody else. Her sensuous, but restrained affections towards Ronnie don't make sense either; he wants to build a life together with her. Turquoise however trusts first times and learns from them, even if that means keeping a potential partner at bay.
Turquoise is a character made better by Beharie's subtle portrayal. The actress, known for her caliber with silent gazes screaming for reaction and awe, brings to screen the same delicate essence to her character as she did in 'Shame', 'American Violet' or even as Chadwick Boseman's wife in '42'. Chikaeze is both cheeky and unrelenting as Kai, rebelling against the protagonist one can't help rooting for, but never insufferable. Even Sampson excels in his portrayal of the far from ideal father, with Lori Hayes shining as Turquoise's alcoholic, devout Christian mother, and Akron Watson and Liz Mikel making quite the impression as the exceptionally kind bosses who help Turquoise out however they can.
Filled with blink-and-you-miss-it satires of the economically challenged Texan setting and long drawn out silences that contrast with the bubbling energy surrounding the celebrations, Peoples' direction is exciting to follow. That is mostly because she understands and relays the sentimental cores of Turquoise, her past, and her reality, and the dynamics that bind them all. As mothers mourn the losses of their children, unfairly taken from them by systemic oppression and racial prejudice, Peoples' story and Tuequoise's strive for her child comes as a fiery reminder that the fight is never over, but also, there's hope at the end of the tunnel.
At its core, the mother-daughter tale is a lot like the Oscar-nominated 'Ladybird' even though its timing is both unfortunate and epic for obvious reasons. Having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year, 'Miss Juneteenth' misses out on its big proper theatrical release due to the ongoing lockdown regulations. But it wins in unexpected ways, premiering on virtual theatres at a time when the planet is going through yet another pivotal civil rights movement of all time. And even if all the comforting warmth and spitfire chemistry between Beharie and Chikaeze fails to woo you, we always have the timing to toast to.
'Miss Juneteenth' premieres on virtual theatres and will be available on-demand from Friday, June 19.