Thursday, February 4, 2021 • The buLLeTIN
MOVIES
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 21
‘Miss Juneteenth’ builds to a beautiful ending
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE
The Bulletin
A
quiet but honest film can easily slide
by among big-budget blockbusters.
Writer and director Channing
Godfrey Peoples’ debut film “Miss June-
teenth” is one of those films driven by the
world it portrays that deserves to break out
of the pack.
The film follows Turquoise Jones (Ni-
cole Beharie) a Fort Worth, Texas, work-
ing, nearly-single mom and former beauty
queen who has scraped and saved to put
her 15-year-old daughter Kai (Alexis Chi-
kaeze) into the same Miss Juneteenth Pag-
eant where, if she wins, she could win a
full scholarship to any Historically Black
College. Kai, however, is indifferent to her
mother’s insistence that she join the com-
petition, and instead is more interested in
her boyfriend and trying out for her school’s
dance team.
But Turquoise pushes her daughter to-
ward the crown, putting a massive deposit
on a ball gown, correcting her grammar
when an error is made and doing as much
as she can to set her up for potential great-
ness.
We learn early on that while many Miss
Continued from previous page
important and fascinating women. Stream
it on Disney Plus or rent it from Amazon
Prime, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.
”Malcolm X” (1992) — The Spike Lee
joint clocks in at just under three and a half
hours and spans the entire life of the civil
rights activist from his youth, crime-riddled
young adulthood and eventual conversion
to the Nation of Islam where he became an
outspoken advocate for their more militant
methods of protest. Over the epic scale, the
audience is able to connect fully to X, played
dutifully by Denzel Washington, and see
the full scope of his transformation through
Juneteenth’s have gone onto said greatness,
of that just behind her eyes, giving the audi-
Turquoise’s life has not turned out that way
ence a sense of what is boiling beneath with-
and it is implied that before she could
out ever saying a word.
complete her tenure as pageant
The rest of the cast’s perfor-
queen, she got pregnant and
mances, while not bad, fall a
her dreams of reaching for
little more flatly compared
more were put on hold.
to Beharie.
Instead, she does odd
Plot-wise, things chug
jobs including working
along and there are side
at a hole-in-the-wall bar
characters who don’t get
and as a beauty morti-
much more attention
cian. While her husband
other than being plot de-
Ronnie (Kendrick Samp-
vices without fully explor-
son) promises to help out,
ing their potential as more.
he is rarely able to follow
But this is Turquoise and
through and mostly keeps his
Kai’s story, their struggle to be
who they want to be in front
own interests above those of
Turquoise and Kai. This leads
Vertical Entertainment of one another. Though there
to tensions in the family, and Nicole Beharie in a scene from is no doubt they love each
other, we only get a strong
while Turquoise is still clearly “Miss Juneteenth” (2020)
look at it toward the end.
working through things, she
It feels very honest, and
appears to care for him still.
while it has tones of sexism, mother-daugh-
But nothing is ever easy when you can
ter relationships and even classism that are
barely afford the basics, and Turquoise puts
every penny into Kai’s competition, pushing fairly universal, the storyline is very beauti-
fully rooted in Black culture.
both of them to their breaking points.
It is s slow burn of a film, nothing big or
Beharie carries the film expertly. Her
outlandish happens, but it quietly builds un-
character is confident and capable but
barely keeping it together. Beharie brings all til a beautiful ending that brings it all home.
his life. The script is based on X’s autobi-
ography as it was told to Alex Haley and it
doesn’t miss much, which is what makes it
a compelling watch. Stream it on HBO Max
or rent it from Amazon Prime, Google Play,
iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.
”Selma” (2014) — Surprisingly, this was
the first film to center around Rev. Dr. Mar-
tin Luther King. Director Ava DuVernay
takes viewers through the events leading
up to the march from Selma to Montgom-
ery including the horrific events of Bloody
Sunday where protesters were stopped on
the Edmund Pettus Bridge and beaten. Da-
vid Oyelowo provides a solid and stirring
performance as King showing a lot of his
human flaws that the history books tend to
gloss over. Stream it on Hulu (with Live TV)
or rent it on Amazon Prime, Google Play,
iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.
”Straight Outta Compton” (2015) — Fol-
lowing the rise and fall of gangsta rap group
N.W.A, the film surprisingly connects to a
wider audience beyond fans of the band and
the music they created. The deeper story be-
tween the musicians is powerfully done and
leaves the biopic one that will last. Stream it
on Hulu (with Live TV) or rent it from Am-
azon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or
YouTube.
More Information
“Miss Juneteenth”
99 minutes
No MPAA rating
new on DVD
& Blu-ray
e e
Movies released the week of Feb. 2
“Let Him Go,” “Wild Mountain Thyme,” “Tesla,”
“Breach” and “Host.”
Peoples, a Fort Worth native herself, gives
us a strong debut feature film that captures
the nuances of Black working-class life in a
steady and beautiful performance from Ni-
cole Beharie.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com
”What Happened, Miss Simone” (2015)
— The documentary lays out the life of jazz
great Nina Simone using mostly her own
words through interviews and diary en-
tries as well as through her daughter, Lisa,
and her friends. Viewers get an incredibly
intimate look at the turmoil the singer en-
dured at the hands of her abusive husband
as well as her struggle with bipolar disorder
which was not diagnosed until later in her
career. What’s more, we get a stunning in-
sight into how deep her talent went. Stream
it on Netflix or rent it from Amazon Prime
or iTunes.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com