Nicole Beharie radiates grace in each and every role she’s given. There are few actors who, regardless of role, simply brighten my day and keep my interest. Every other element of the film could be wonky, but one thing is for sure—Nicole “These Eyes Gone Give You a Performance, if Nothing Else” Beharie is gonna act, ya heard?
Mama gave us a Texas accent, and it wasn’t too overbearing. She hit you with the twang, but it felt natural. 😌😌 Felt good, and it matched her spirit as Turquoise (Turq), a struggling, single parent working to provide for her 15-year-old daughter Kai (Alexis Chikaeze). Turq enters Kai into an annual scholarship pageant commemorating Juneteenth, a crown she’d won in her youth. She is determined to relive her former glory through her daughter who wants nothing more but to train to become a competitive dancer.
Beharie transformed into the unglamorous Turq donning a rainbow collection of bandanas and trendy early-2000s “It’s Fashion” staples. (Relatable imagery.) Her performance gave an unvarnished truth and humanity of the working poor—that look of having too much month at the end of your money. Or owning a glow that isn’t sweat, but more of a veneer or a brownish-gray aura of the hard day’s work finally behind you.
I was attentive to Beharie’s non-verbal expressions because, not only is she really good at that shit, it reminded me of the generations of woman who raised me who seemed to overwork themselves to end up in the same spot. A gorgeous performance that should be marveled. A quiet confidence.
Turq and Ronnie’s (Kendrick Sampson) chemistry was magnetic. I admired how their complicated companionship was written and portrayed, and wondered if many scenes were improvised.
Their communications in navigating their affections, given a seemingly tumultuous backstory, were charmingly captured. I valued how we couldn’t really tell who Ronnie was to Kai, like it took a minute for the understanding of their relationship to materialize. A good intention too because it played into Turq’s reluctance to continue to foster a relationship with him. Turq seemed ashamed to be associated with Ronnie, but as the film went on, small layers of their relationship emerged.
Aight, so when Kai started practicing for the talent portion of the pageant, and Turq first mentioned that she recited a poem for her win…sis, 😳 I JUST KNEEEEEEEWWWWWW it was “Phenomenal Woman!” 🤣🤣🤣 It is literally the goddamn go-to poem. #ICONIC
If I didn’t let out the biggest HOOT, HOLLER, and HOWL when she said, “Hi, my name is Kai Jones, and I’ll be reciting ‘Phenomenal Woman by Dr. Maya Angelou.’” 💀💀💀
I love Black people so much, man. These moments are what make me open-mouth cackle in the movie theater with zero shame.
🎼Music🎶:
I mean, a narrative about Juneteenth without “Lift Every Voice and Sing” would have been a lost opportunity. So I was delighted that two iterations of the song were featured, in the introduction and during the climax, each distinct and applied expertly. Outside of that appropriate historical nod , the soundtrack slapped and checked off all the themes: Southern appreciation, hip-hop, and gospel hymns. Ya know, the works! 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾
Phenomenal Woman-hood:
“Miss Juneteenth” also explored the diverse social ideologies between Turq, her mother Charlotte (Lori Hayes), and Kai–what “womanhood” means to each of them in a religious-conservative, Southern Baptist, Black social environment.
This film explored the legacy of slavery and the rich celebration of Juneteenth in Fort Worth. I took away an appreciation for uplifting young Black ladies in a pageant environment, even though I don’t personally agree with a few of the ideologies for societal ascension. For example, during a visit at the Juneteenth museum, the pageant organizer shows the young ladies photographs of past Miss Juneteenth winners, and stated their accomplishments–a famed civil right attorney, neurosurgeon… but the last winner mentioned was “the wife of” a politician. It made me cringe. 😣🤨😬 (I love when art makes me uncomfortable. I love when I disagree because it’s engaging.)
Those moments were totally worth the reminder that even though the pageant organizer is generations removed from the young ladies competing in the pageant, that specific brand of conservatism was not just a single-generation ideology—it was literally being taught. Turq aligned with those ideals even though she fell short of everyone else’s expectations. She was using this pageant to prove to others that she could take her daughter on the path that she didn’t when she was afforded the opportunity. She literally worked to pay for an expensive dress and highlighted Kai’s potential schools in a big book of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) without regard for her daughter’s aspirations. The dining room table scene with the pageant contestants was a great representation of Kai’s mis-match with her counterparts. Kai found dignity in exploring her craft and having a blossoming relationship with her boyfriend while appeasing her mother’s wishes, but on her terms. Her decision to pick out her hair before reciting her rendition of “Phenomenal Woman” was exactly what I expected from her demeanor. Ultimately, Turq’s relationships and social interactions seemed like a warped Target “Room Essentials” full-length mirror version of her daughter’s. Subdued narrative juxtaposition—I dug it.
This film had me doing the “Leo-pointing-at-the-TV” meme from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood:”
🥰 Kai celebrating her birthday with her mother brought back some personal childhood moments. My eyes were sweating. Seeing a mother and her beautiful brown daughter bask in those moments was so pure. 🥺🥺 Kai’s guilt in receiving that necklace knowing her mother couldn’t afford it brought me to tears because…relatable content. 😖😩 Also, Turq having to take on extra shifts on her daughter’s birthday… again tears…relatable 👏🏾 ass 👏🏾 content👏🏾. I hate how much I love these scenes (I don’t hate it. I just can’t articulate how appreciative I am for the specificity of these moments–showing gentleness, no trauma. Seeing the beautiful narrative of a mother-daughter bond because so often when one-parent, women-led households are featured in dramas, there’s an aura of antagonistic, hyperbolic, stereotypical bullshit). Shouts to the director and writer Channing Peoples for the vision. I wish for more narratives like this one.
🥰 The hot comb scene brought back flashbacks of Royal Crown and Blue Magic hair grease, “hol’ ya ears,” and the snap, crackle, and pop of that hot comb on your kitchen/nape after that pat on the towel after its been lifted from over a gas stove flame while you sitting in a kitchen chair propped up on couch pillows. 👀👀👀 (Some of y’all recognize the terminology in this intentional run-on sentence and know this pain.)
🥰 Kai attending pageant rehearsal without a dress was 🔥🔥. You could see the dissipating confidence in her face. Good directing in this scene too–those lingering frames of Turq’s reaction were beautifully shot.
I expected “Miss Juneteenth” to flow like a documentary, but it’s a wholesome narrative about one mother in a small town who didn’t live up to her community’s expectations in an environment still impacted by that solemn Galveston day on June 19th, 1865.